if your firm were a body part, what would it be?

If Your Firm WereA Body Part, What Would It Be ? (Updated)

 

This is something we've been mulling over the last few days.

And there are a few obvious suggestions.

Goldman Sachs, for example, is most surely the brain (clever, switched on and always thinking ahead). Then again, Goldman could be the finger - as that's what its many critics accuse the firm of often giving to other market participants.

And Citi must be the liver (you know, almost at death's door, but has now made a great recovery following a period of abstinence).

The eyes, of course, are probably regulators The Securities and Exchange Commission and The Financial Services Authority (or maybe they are the nose, sniffing out the bad smells ?).

The heart must be the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, pumping liquidity into the markets, the lungs were probably Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers (diseased and ultimately killing off the rest of the body), the stomach possibly The Royal Bank of Scotland (bloated, but better now after heavy dieting).

The spine is perhaps JPMorgan Chase - upright and true, trying to do the right thing. The hip might be Jefferies & Co - the firm, after all, is pretty 'hip' these days! And the ear is possibly UBS, as the bank has had to do a lot of listening over the last couple of years (to the US Justice Department, Swiss authorities, shareholders, etc).

Bank of America is surely the groin, where it has been kicked many times in recent years.

And Dresdner Kleinwort was most probably the appendix - after Commerzbank acquired it, it was quickly taken out.

Here are some reader suggestions:

Credit Suisse - the feet. Always walking, but never getting too far from the shore.

HSBC - The back. Strong and solid, but never leading the way. Always behind the curve(s).

Lehman Brothers was the kidneys, whose failure nearly killed off the body. Barclays was the first transplant, and Nomura the second.

RBS - the toenail. Always needs cutting, ugly and unloved by all, but tough as old boots and keeps growing back.

Send in your suggestions to us in confidence at news@hereisthecity.com and we'll publish the best of them.