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them the time and attention the client deserves.’
    ‘What other accounts do you look after?’
    ‘I’m afraid I can’t tell you. It’s confidential.’
    ‘I was hoping you’d say that,’ Harry says. ‘It’s good to know we can trust you.’
    ‘Trust is one of our key values. Everything we discuss is strictly confidential . With many of our competitors, you’re just a name or number. With MenDax, I’ll be available to you twenty-four seven, even at weekends . It’s part of the our ethos to build personal relationships with our investors.’
    ‘How do you do that?’ Dark sweat patches have started to emerge from under the arms of Harry’s shirt.
    ‘Regular meetings, frequent investment reports, etcetera. Also with MenDax you can withdraw your money at a moment’s notice. With many of our competitors you would have to give them up to six months.’
    ‘That’s certainly a plus.’ Harry excuses himself and wipes his facewith his monogrammed handkerchief. ‘Would you invest the money
purely
in Scandinavia? What’s the attraction?’
    ‘The attraction is simple. Scandinavian banks have been deregulated and are able to offer far more attractive high-yield investment products than anywhere else in the world. It’s called the iceberg economy, are you familiar with the term?’
    ‘No. Why’s it called that?’
    ‘Because it’s rock solid and far bigger than it appears on the surface.’
    Harry grins and rubs the sweat patches below his breasts.
    ‘We would look to invest your money in perhaps two or three products and we can absolutely guarantee excellent returns,’ Mark adds.
    ‘From my experience of investment, Mark, I thought it was important to have a diverse portfolio. We don’t want all of our eggs in one or two baskets.’
    ‘No, not at all, Harry. We build you a personal investment programme . We can put together an incredibly diverse portfolio; the only common denominator is that they are linked to the continued profitability of the Scandinavian economy.’ Mark leans back in his chair. ‘In the same way all English investment packages link back to the stability of the Bank of England.’
    ‘Which banks do you invest with?’
    ‘Loansbanki, that’s the biggest in Iceland, and usually Glitchnir. Although it depends on who is giving the best returns at the time. I can email you when I’ve done an in-depth analysis.’
    ‘Good. What type of returns are we talking about?’ Harry tops up Mark’s wine glass.
    ‘In the current economic climate, you could reasonably expect twenty per cent per annum, before commission,’ Mark says, holding Harry’s gaze.
    Harry looks astonished. ‘Twenty per cent per annum? That’s unbelievable . How?’
    ‘I’m afraid how we do it is confidential until you become an investor. We have built a reputation around strategic investment excellence. We have to protect our,’ Mark taps the side of his head, ‘knowledge.’
    ‘Of course. I understand.’
     
    When the food arrives, there isn’t enough room for everything Harry has ordered, so another table is pulled over. Somehow he manages to stuff a dough ball into his mouth before the waitress has put the plate down.
    ‘Would you like to know more about MenDax?’ Mark asks, breaking the silence. He undoes his cufflinks and rolls up his sleeves.
    ‘OK. Fill me in.’ Harry accidently spits a fleck of dough into the water jug and pops two more balls into his mouth even though he’s still chewing the first one.
    ‘The company was founded seven years ago by Steffen Men who was a futures trader on the DAX, hence MenDax. The DAX is like the German version of the FTSE 100.’
    ‘I know what the DAX is, Mark.’
    ‘Yes, of course. We deal with both big institutional investors and high-value private clients, and our HQ is in London but we’ve also got offices in Berlin, Zurich and New York. We’re Europe’s most profitable investment company per head per capita per annum. That’s the important thing to