Lunchtime Links: Potentially scary FSA interviews for traders

As the Economist notes this week, the FSA is starting to look more scary and to make more of the right noises the more certain its imminent demise under a Tory administration becomes.

The latest grunts from the house of Turner concern trader interviews. As we noted in May, the FSA has begun conducting occasionally frightening interviews with banks' senior level hires to ensure they know what their job is all about. The Financial Times today says the practice could be extended to up to 2,000 "traders and managers."

The FSA may want to bear in mind, however, that London is already less appealing than it used to be and that regulatory interviews with traders may further diminish its allure. Bloomberg reports that at least 23 hedge funds have emigrated, mostly to Switzerland, since the start of the year, and that in percentage terms twice as many jobs have been lost in the City as in NY.

Nomura's hiring 240 investment bankers in the US. (Wall Street Journal)

US pay czar to vet high level contracts. (Wall Street Journal)

Deutsche bank raising base pay. (Dealbreaker)

Costas sets up a boutique to trade mortgage debt. (Reuters)

Execution hires Bruce Howitt from Merrill Lynch to expand its new debt trading unit. (City AM)

HSBC private bank hires someone from Goldman Sachs. (Wealth Bulletin)

HSBC hires seven equity traders in the Middle East. (Financial News)

Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller thinking about a London listing. (Independent)

Citigroup shares could more than double by 2010. (DealBook)

Don't mess with Goldman. (Reuters)

Almost every British commercial property loan granted since 2004 is under water. (The Times)

Nope, bankers can't become teachers in six months after all. (Independent)

Investment banks have made London and New York richer and safer (but also more expensive and more boring) cities. (Economist)