Lunchtime Links: Can hedge funds really hire whoever they want from Goldman and Morgan Stanley?

The way banks tell it, you'd think the hedge fund industry was thriving. At yesterday's annual meeting, John Mack reportedly told shareholders that Morgan Stanley was experiencing an exodus a lot of departures of 'strong revenue generators.' Hedge funds have apparently been gloating about their resulting good fortune. "I had a hedge fund say to me, 'I can hire anyone I want from you and Goldman,'" Mack is said to have said.

The European Union may soon put a stop to such hedge fund self-satisfaction. As Robert Peston points out today, the French and Germans are wrongly obsessed with the notion that hedge funds and PE funds were behind the financial crisis. They are therefore keen to make them disclose information on leverage and hold minimum amounts of capital. If this comes to pass, hedge funds in London may migrate to Singapore or Switzerland.

The UK isn't really part of Europe and quite frankly I think should leave it immediately.

(Fintag)

Barclays Capital hires Jim Renwick from UBS as head of ECM. (Telegraph)

Moelis about to embark upon big restructuring recruitment in Europe. (Financial News)

Blackstone hires from Citigroup for its Paris office. (Financial News)

Deutsche Bank hires high yield MD from Barclays Capital. (Tradingmarkets)

Macquarie hires UK head of ECM from Credit Suisse. (Forbes)

UBS axes 2,000 US jobs in restructuring drive. (CNBC)

Ackermann only stayed because Deutsche supervisory board couldn't agree on his replacement. (Bloomberg)

Lewis ruminates on the pluses and minuses of exercising the MAC clause. (Wall Street Journal)

Ken Lewis says Merrill was good value and that he has no regrets. (The Times)

Mr Lewis thinks buying Merrill made sense. He is right. (Financial Times)

African American physicist is new chairman of BofA. (Guardian)

Minorities, veterans and women" have been actively "encouraged to invest in the PPIP. (Alphaville)

Goldman bond sale signals that it did fine in the stress tests. (Bloomberg)

"I made a mistake - I should have refused those stock options." (Financial Times)

How low will 2009 analyst bonuses go? (MergersandInquisitions)

Small bonuses lead to collapse in UK average earnings. (Telegraph)

Only 29% of people with lots of money want to be recognized as wealthy. (Reuters)

You sneeze you go home. (Bloomberg)