A firestorm of criticism was unleashed from Washington at bonus-reaping-while-Wall-Street-burns bankers, with President Obama deigning to join in the fray. The tone was unusually heated: President Barack Obama fed a swelling populist revolt against Wall Street bonuses, calling it “shameful” that banks doled out $18.4 billion as taxpayers bail out companies and the U.S. remains […]
Read more...I am struggling for the right metaphor to describe Timothy Geithner’s conduct. Marie Antionette ain’t bad, but perhaps better is the Last Commandment from Animal Farm: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others This blogger was troubled by Geithner’s demeanor during the Senate hearings on the Bear Stearns bailout, when […]
Read more...A major caveat: the survey cited below comes from a “financial jobs website.” Presumably, users of that sort of site either have no job or are looking to change jobs and therefore are not particularly happy. Nevertheless, the last few years were particularly fat, and the young ‘uns appeared to have gotten conditioned to the […]
Read more...In case you had any doubts about the propriety of Merrill’s 2008 pay packages, this Wall Street Journal story on the continuing slugfest between Merrill’s former CEO John Thain and Bank of America’s chief Ken Lewis should put any doubts to rest: According to a securities filing last week, Merrill’s overall compensation and benefit expenses […]
Read more...Some readers have suggested that while ex-Merrill CEO John Thain’s actions post the agreement to buy his firm were questionable, his ouster was an effort to divert blame and attention for the turkey deal from BofA CEO Ken Lewis. If Thain, as Lewis charged, ducked direct questions about Merrill’s deteriorating financial condition, or worse, was […]
Read more...Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis gave former Merrill chief John Thain an unceremonious heave-ho earlier today, a mere month after the Merrill deal closed, after one too many nasty surprises: the deterioration of Merrill in the fourth quarter, the revelation that Merrill effectively stiffed BofA by paying bonuses early, thus depriving the bank of […]
Read more...Perhaps I am unduly cynical, but I find it pretty odd that the general counsel at the New York Fed. Thomas Baxter, is making statements about the Lehman collapse now. For those who are familiar with US jurisprudence, anything said to an attorney in confidence is privileged information (yes, there have been some attacks on […]
Read more...The market’s case of nerves this week seems a tad more justified, given that the details of the Bank of America rescue plan are apparently out, Previous press reports suggested the Charlotte bank might need $8 to $10 billion of additional equity to compensate for losses related to the Merrill acquistion. Yes, as Senator Everett […]
Read more...The irony is rich, and a bit sad. I had Citi as a client in the 1980s, and served them in a small way in their efforts to make inroads into investment banking. It looked like a quixotic effort with commercial banks seeming likely to remain relegated to the margins: smaller clients, simpler deals. JP […]
Read more...There is a piece I regard as truly odd in the Wall Street Journal tonight. Either much of what I have read about investment bank bankruptcies is wrong, or something peculiar is at what used to be the house of Lehman. A Wall Street Journal article, “Lehman’s Chaotic Bankruptcy Filing Destroyed Billions in Value,” comments […]
Read more...I had wondered whether former Lehman CEO was more than a tad unbalanced. Anyone who can tell a business peer, as he reportedly did to John Thain, that he would reach down the throat and tear out the heart of those who might be disparaging Lehman, at a minimum is wanting in propriety and decorum. […]
Read more...Banks are, if nothing else, entirely predictable. If there is a way to game the system, they will avail themselves of it. Readers may recall that the Financial Standards Accounting Board implemented Statement 157, which required financial firms to identify how they arrived at the “fair value” for their assets. Level 1 are ones where […]
Read more...Um, a bit late to come to that realization, don’tcha think? From Barron’s (hat tip reader Michael): That ‘’super spike” in oil prices that Goldman insisted would lift crude to $200 a barrel ….? ….It never really turned out to be that prescient: instead of the 50% jump in oil that Goldman anticipated back in […]
Read more...The UK’s Times reports that Swiss bank UBS intends to change its bonus program so that current year bonuses can be largely reversed if performance in subsequent year falls or generates losses. Even more striking, the bank is considering trying recoup bonuses already paid to certain executives. The UBS move is a worthwhile effort towards […]
Read more...The New York Times, writing from the industry town, in “Wall Street’s Pay Is Expected to Plummet,” tries to make the case that the calls for scalps deeper pay cuts are overdone: The first clues are emerging that Wall Street pay will plummet this year — but perhaps not enough to satisfy the financial industry’s […]
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