Lunchtime Links: From magazine ad salesman to top bond salesman at Goldman Sachs
Lloyd Blankfein says Goldman does well because it employs the best people. This is usually taken to imply that it employs only Ivy League graduates with impeccable banking credentials.
In the case of Cactus Raazi, the Goldman vice president credited with helping Goldman reduce its exposure to the mortgage market in 2007, this doesn't appear to have been the case.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Raazi studied at the University of California Santa Barbara (ranked 42nd by the US News and World Report last year). After leaving university he appears to have worked in advertising sales for Rolling Stone Magazine.
The lesson, if there is one, appears to be not to work in advertising sales for too long - Raazi left his ad sales job after 7 months, and has now been at Goldman for nearly 12 years.
"I think it entirely possible that Goldman could go the way of Arthur Anderson or Drexel." (Interfluidity)
What criminal charges would really do to Goldman Sachs. (BusinessInsider)
Goldman trimmed its London staff by 15% last year. (Evening Standard)
Goldman's hiring a supplementary law firm. (Bloomberg)
...And a crisis management expert. (Financial Times)
Obama's Goldman jokes. (Boston News)
Wall Street is the factory for all the financial products in the United States, and you can't allow a factory to put out some poisonous products and claim the rest are healthy. (The Big Money)
The average number of qualified candidates for each new City job vacancy has more than halved from 5.7 a year ago to 2.7 in March. (Financial Times)
Who's hiring private bankers in Switzerland? (Wealth Briefing )
Basel chairman says a bank tax is premature. (Financial Times )
Citigroup says ex-employee told Deutsche bank secrets. (Bloomberg)
Citigroup prop trader quits for Nomura as Volcker Rule looms. (BusinessWeek)
Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Macquarie to earn fees on the enormous IPO of Agricultural Bank of China. (The Times)
15bn of UK IPOs coming after the election. (The Times)
Brady Dougan earns CHF250k (150k) every single day of the year. (Associated Press)
Jerome Kerviel is currently earning 24k a year as a computer programmer. (Business Insider)
"I have known very few, if any, colleagues or competitors over the years who have achieved success at (or even entry into) investment banking based on nepotism or anything other, really, than a rare combination of high native intelligence, relentless hard work, and grand ambition." (Epicurean Dealmaker)
