Lunchtime Links: Lewis says ML staff have other places to go

Ken Lewis was interviewed for an hour on CNBC this morning. We haven't watched the entire performance, which appears to be scattered around the site, but Lewis said the ML deal will come good by 2011 and that when he met him last week, Obama failed to categorically rule out a retroactive tax on bonuses at TARP firms. According to Clusterstock, Lewis also said TARP compensation restrictions are already causing people to get out of ML and that it's 'absolutely not true' that disgruntled bankers have nowhere else to go.

Mark to market change: time to buy banks? (Alphaville)

G20 leaders eye banking pay. (Forbes)

German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck pushing for locust regulation. (Reuters)

The world's best trading desk. (Alea)

Lazard building in European debt advisory. (Financial News)

New leveraged finance start up, North Sea Investments. (Financial News)

Morgan Stanley's head of prime brokerage resigns. (Reuters)

Alliance Bernstein cuts 17% of jobs in six months. (Financial News)

7% redundancies at KBW. (Financial News)

Swiss Re cutting 10% of staff. (Wall Street Journal)

Credit card writedowns at 20 year high. (CNN)

300,000 fewer higher rate taxpayers. (Telegraph)

I worked out a ratio of tourists / camera people / media to protesters of 10 to 1. (Fintag)

Traders were betting on number of protester arrests. (Guardian)

Deutsche bankers quaffed wine at Coq D'Argent amidst protests. (The Times)

G20 CDS. (Alea)