Lunchtime Links: BofA badly cramping Merrill's style
Business Insider (AKA Clusterstock) highlights that all is not well in the Berrill blender. ML traders are said to be "increasingly frustrated at what they regard at the slow and, well, stupid ways of the Bank of America back offices." Simple documentation is allegedly bogged down in BofA bureaucracy, trades are in danger of falling apart, and traders are in danger of running for the exits.
At the same time, ML M&A bankers don't appear too happy either. Writing in the Financial Times today, Gillian Tett says that ML's rainmakers are trying to create water, but BofA keeps spiking deals because it's lent to the organizations concerned and can't stomach the conflict of interest. Sensing a loss of fees, ML big swingers are also in danger of leaving. Tett intimates that BofA would have been better off paying them large retention bonuses in the style of Credit Suisse when it bought DLJ while it tries to iron these issues out.
9th senior Merrill banker in Europe makes a getaway. (Financial Times)
Recipients of Merrill's big bonuses to be named. (The Times)
Calls to shackle investment banking at a nationalized Citi. (Financial Times)
If the banking industry was nationalized for only 15 minutes, it would be enough time to wipe out the total investment of shareholders in the industry. (Reuters)
Beware 'economic nationalization.' (Pestowire)
JPM says Q1 'solidly profitable', slashes dividend anyway. (Business Insider)
HSBC bonus rumours. (Dealbreaker)
Basic salaries really are rising. (Independent)
FT offers staff a three day working week. (Guardian)
Job cuts at RBS might be less swingeing than everyone thought. (The Times)
When you can't get through the first interview. (Wall Street Journal)
More jobs for bank security guards this summer? (BankerGoneBroke )
If there is any unrest, the police will shoot to kill. (Fintag)
