City lives in Bruce Wasserstein’s shadow October 14, 2009 ANYBODY who really wants to understand today’s City of London – its culture, its customs and its personalities – needs to acquaint themselves with the life of Bruce Wasserstein, one of the greatest corporate financiers of all time who died last night at the cruelly premature age of 61. He was, of course, a New [...]
City defends high bonus expectations October 14, 2009 WALL Street banks are on track to pay employees a record $140bn (£88bn) this year, and despite predictions of a public backlash,City figures say that bonuses are well-deserved. Bankers’ bonuses look set for a resurgence, after US bank JP Morgan Chase smashed analyst expectations to report third-quarter earnings of $3.59bn (£2.5bn), a 72 per cent [...]
JP Morgan traders lift its earnings October 13, 2009 JP MORGAN Chase will today report third quarter earnings significantly above last year, as strong trading in its investment banking operations offsets rising loan losses. Analysts are expecting the bank to report quarterly earnings of $0.49 per share, well above the $0.11 per share seen in the same period of last year, due to a [...]
Banks drag down the FTSE as miners and energy drop October 13, 2009 BRITAIN’S top shares closed 1.1 per cent lower yesterday, as weakness in banks outweighed strength in defensive issues, while sentiment was dampened by falls on Wall Street after disappointing corporate earnings. The benchmark FTSE 100 closed 56.02 points lower at 5,154.15, slipping below the 5,200 level which it hit for the first time in more [...]
Barclays seeks third party for CLO portfolio October 12, 2009 BARCLAYS will look to a third party if it sells £4bn worth of Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs), analysts said yesterday. The bank is understood to be weighing up a plan to rid itself of the CLOs in a bid to calm investors worried by the risky nature of the investments and remove the potentially volatile [...]
Bear Stearns pair face criminal case October 11, 2009 THE first of an expected slew of high-profile court cases arising from the credit crunch begins tomorrow, with two former Bear Stearns employees accused of misleading investors over the health of sub-prime mortgage securities. The case will hinge on whether one of the bank’s former hedge fund managers, Matthew Tannin, knew that the sub-prime arena [...]
US earnings rut could be at an end October 11, 2009 Though today is Columbus Day, a public holiday in the US, most of its markets are trading regular hours. This week is going to be defined by US corporate earnings. Tomorrow we have Intel and Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase is on Wednesday; on Thursday Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Google and IBM are all due [...]
WINTERS IS OUSTED FROM JP MORGAN September 29, 2009 BILL Winters, JP Morgan Chase’s senior figure in European investment banking, has been sensationally ousted, after chief executive and chairman Jamie Dimon made it clear that he did not want the popular banker to succeed him. Winters, whose departure was announced yesterday, will be succeeded as co-chief executive of JP Morgan by the group’s head [...]
JP MORGAN EXEC: NO ONE INNOCENT September 28, 2009 THE co-chief executive of JP Morgan’s investment banking arm has blamed “greedy bankers, investors and borrowers” for the financial crisis. Bill Winters’ comments – which will be seen as an attack on Wall Street, the City and clients – were made earlier this week during a closed-doors debate at the Investment Management Association. City rainmaker [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 28, 2009 HSBC Private BankThe bank has appointed Chris Allen, currently head of real estates at HSBC Alternative Investments Limited (HAIL), as managing director and head of the HAIL division. Prior to joining HSBC in 2007, Allen spent ten years at real estate services company Colliers International, latterly as an executive director in its investment division, before [...]