NEWS ABOUT: investment bankers
investment bankers stories: 25 news briefs
Bloomberg Jun 24, 09 12:38 PM CDT
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Citigroup will raise salaries for investment bankers and traders as much as 50% to offset a steep falloff in bonus pay and keep the company’s compensation package competitive, Bloomberg reports. Other employees, like those in the consumer banking section, will receive smaller raises. Citi, which took $45 billion in federal bailout funds, also plans to offer its employees stock options to keep them on.
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New York Post May 28, 09 3:50 PM CDT
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The CIA is looking for a few good bankers to track down millionaire bad guys and stymie financial terrorism, the New York Post reports. Ads on Bloomberg Radio ask money whizzes to use their “intelligence for the work of a nation.” The $160,000 salary will probably be a pay cut for most applicants—provided they still have a job. Interviews will be held at an undisclosed New York location.
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GLOSSIES
New York Apr 20, 09 4:03 PM CDT
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Main Street doesn’t hold a monopoly on victimhood, Gabriel Sherman writes in New York . From AIG execs and their disappearing bonuses to Wall Street bankers who get dirty looks, the once-privileged feel like they’re shouldering too much blame. “It is difficult to sympathize with these people,” Sherman writes, “but you can understand their shock: Their world has been turned on its head.”
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Analysis
Talented people risk little by trying out
academia, government
New York Times Jan 27, 09 12:34 PM CST
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The gravitational pull of Wall Street on the nation's best and brightest students has weakened dramatically, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the New York Times , as ridiculous pay packages and the thrill of risk-taking give way to layoffs and anxiety. "The whole cult and ethos of Wall Street, which lured so many bright minds, is in retreat," he writes.
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Some, unlike disgraced investment bankers and traders, even command bonuses
Wall Street Journal Jan 13, 09 12:56 PM CST
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With investment bankers and trading desks disgraced by crippling losses, the everyday stockbroker is enjoying a renaissance as Wall Street firms look to stay relevant to customers and investors, the Wall Street Journal reports. The likely deal between Morgan Stanley and Citigroup that would create the world’s largest brokerage unit underscores the importance Wall Street is placing on brokers as instruments of economic recovery.
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Auto industry, real estate among worst fields
Australia's News Network Jan 11, 09 4:56 PM CST
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Want to keep your job this year? Steer clear of these professions, which a new study says will be hard-hit by the recession, Australia's News Network reports: Car salesperson Real estate agent Investment banker Prawn fisherman
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After a year on dole, and months into publicity stunt, banker rejoins workforce
Los Angeles Times Dec 24, 08 10:09 AM CST
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Out-of-work investment banker Joshua Persky gained a lot of publicity when he hung a sign around his neck reading “EXPERIENCED MIT GRAD FOR HIRE,” and passed out resumes on the streets of Manhattan—but no job offers. His wife and kids left New York to live with family, the Los Angeles Times reports. But Persky kept the faith, and a year later, he’s got a new job.
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OPINION
Wall Street's just a Ponzi scheme too
New York Times Dec 19, 08 8:12 AM CST
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Bernie Madoff’s $50 billion fraud wasn’t all that different from what his Wall Street peers were up to, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Oh sure, “Madoff allegedly skipped a few steps,” stealing the money without bothering to load up on debt, buy dubious high-yield assets, then pay himself a big bonus for his “profit.” But in both cases, money managers got rich and investors got screwed. Call it “America’s Ponzi era.”
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Bush administration pushes through midnight regulations
ProPublica Nov 21, 08 8:28 AM CST
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With the Bush White House pushing through a raft of last-minute rules, the nonprofit journalism group ProPublica offers a running list, with the status of each: Business-friendly safety regulations would loosen restrictions on exposure to toxic chemicals in the workplace. Local police would get increased surveillance ability. Loaded guns would be allowed in some national parks.
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Alberto Vilar cheated investors to pay debts, fund opera companies
Bloomberg Nov 20, 08 8:41 AM CST
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Alberto Vilar, the investment banker and one of the world's most generous opera patrons, was convicted yesterday on 12 counts of fraud, Bloomberg reports. Vilar told investors that he was putting their money in safe, government-backed assets; in fact, he bought risky tech stocks on margin, which quickly tanked. Vilar also defrauded clients by using their money to pay off other investors and to fulfill his many charitable contributions.
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Experts are predicting cuts of 20%-50%
Wall Street Journal Nov 6, 08 7:49 AM CST
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For the second consecutive year, Wall Streeters are likely to see their wallets lightened by bonuses projected to be down 20% to 50% from a year ago, reports the Wall Street Journal. And while everyone is likely to be a little blue, the biggest loss of green may be among high-profile execs who—under shareholder scrutiny—could see their paydays drop 70%.
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GLOSSIES
Tough times prompt some soul searching, but titans confident they'll regain Wall St. primacy
New York Oct 20, 08 3:26 PM CDT
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With Wall Street in free fall, many of its elite I-bankers are seeing the status quo turned upside-down, Vanessa Grigoriadis writes in New York . Once at the top of the heap, working for companies that praised them as smartest people out there, some are fighting to survive on the Street, while others have reversed course, taking jobs with—gasp!—the government.
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I-banking may be dead, but opportunities are out there
Bloomberg Oct 9, 08 8:48 PM CDT
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Now that the investment-banking party is over, what are all those hotshot bankers going to do? Bloomberg's Matthew Lynn takes a look at potential new "top-dog" careers: African development. The pioneers who nurture African nations’ industry and infrastructure will be rewarded by the continent’s mineral resources and huge agricultural potential.
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Opinion
Tom Wolfe watches as the Masters of the Universe flee New York for Greenwich hedges
New York Times Sep 28, 08 1:35 PM CDT
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Tom Wolfe has been fielding a lot of questions about where the Wall Street crisis leaves the Masters of the Universe now, writes the author of the seminal book about the excesses of 1980s traders in the New York Times . But, he notes, the real investment banking superstars left for hedge funds 6 years ago, long before the banks failed. And they've been comfortably ensconced in hedge funds ever since as the New York Stock Exchange emptied out.
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Reuters Aug 14, 08 6:19 PM CDT
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An investment banker in Kiev predicted the Georgian conflict two days before it occurred, Reuters reports. "So whaddaya think?,” Geoff Smith wrote on Aug. 5 to a fellow strategist at Renaissance Capital. “I say Saakashvili is going to 'restore the territorial integrity of Georgia' five minutes before the opening ceremony starts in Beijing and dare the Russians to invade while the Games are on."
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With 7-figure bonuses in jeopardy, the rich lack buying power
New York Times Jul 12, 08 1:50 PM CDT
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Manhattan’s most rabid real estate buyers are finding that a million-dollar bonus doesn't cut it anymore, the New York Times reports. With markets in turmoil, Wall Street bankers' staggering bonuses are in jeopardy, and apartment sellers are taking note. “They’re looking for people who have stable incomes that are not so market dependent,” one mortgage company president said.
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'He's dead as far as I can throw him,' skeptic says of fraudster
Wall Street Journal Jun 11, 08 11:31 AM CDT
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An international manhunt is now under way for a former hedge-fund manager who disappeared the day he was to begin serving a prison sentence for defrauding investors. A car belonging to Samuel Israel III was found Monday at a bridge over New York's Hudson River, the Wall Street Journal reports; though bodies of suicide jumpers are normally found quickly, there's no sign of Israel.
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Swiss bank prepares to lay off over 2,000 investment bankers
Wall Street Journal May 6, 08 5:52 AM CDT
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UBS will cut 5,500 jobs, slightly fewer than expected, by the middle of 2009 as part of a major restructuring effort, the troubled Swiss bank said today in announcing an $11-billion first-quarter loss. Some 2,600 of the layoffs will be among investment bankers, mostly in London and New York. UBS will also sell off $15 billion in mortgage-backed securities to BlackRock and plans further sales of its mortgage holdings in the future.
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Frank Quattrone seeks to repair his rep with new investment bank
BusinessWeek Mar 19, 08 9:50 PM CDT
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Silicon Valley prodigal son Frank Quattrone is staging a comeback, poised to debut his new tech-centered investment bank Qatalyst—after years recovering from federal obstruction-of-justice charges. But now that he's back, the question is whether the industry will welcome home an errant child with open arms. Probably, BusinessWeek writes—if he wields his Rolodex right.
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Investor giant Peter Lynch fined $20K
for procuring tickets to concerts, games
Wall Street Journal Mar 5, 08 10:20 PM CST
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Investment guru Peter Lynch and Fidelity Investment settled SEC charges brought against them alleging that Lynch used Fidelity traders to procure tickets to high-profile concerts and sporting events. Lynch, vice chairman of Fidelity's parent company, agreed to pay $15,948 for the tickets, plus $4,183 in interest. Fidelity will pay $8 million for nine other charges, reports the Wall Street Journal .
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