Lunchtime Links: No one would want Goldman's code anyway; time to become a miner/farmer
Jim Rogers is back. Although he personally makes most of his money investing and writing books, he's advising any would-be financiers to forget it. In future, it will be primary producers not MBA holders who make money, says Jim. Specifically, he thinks it will be miners and farmers. Needless to say, Jim has been saying this for a while, but it has not yet come to pass.
Separately, the trial of Sergey Aleynikov, the Russian programmer accused of stealing Goldman's proprietary algorithmic trading code, has taken an interesting turn. Business Insider says Mikhail Milashev, the founder of Teza (the company Aleynikov was joining) told the court he wasn't interested in Goldman's code because it wasn't any good. The Goldman MD who oversaw Aleynikov also testified that the code generated 'only' $300m in revenues.
Gordon Brown regrets the emergence of an 'alien' overseas culture in the City, replacing 'my word is my bond.' (Financial Times )
U.S. bank bonds are about the safest on record relative to debt from European financial institutions. (Bloomberg )
Stephen Hester says RBS could be handicapped by a requirement to divulge the size of individual bonuses. (Financial Times )
Eric Daniels doesn't know how many Lloyds bankers earn more than him. (Guardian )
Kenneth Feinberg thinks the structure of banking compensation has improved, but that bonuses are still too big. (Financial Times )
RBC Capital Markets has hired a team of four banking researchers from Execution Noble. (Financial News )
Longacre Fund Management is closing its London office. (FinAlternatives )
Gerova, a US insurer, is acquiring Seymour Pierce. (Bloomberg )
PE news is no more. (PE News )
People [in Ireland] seem to be outraged that someone on €175,000 a year will only stump up €3,500 in new taxes, taking their all-in tax rate to 43%, while someone on €15,000 will pay €400 extra, taking their all-in tax rate to 2.7%. (Ronanlyons )
An enforcement mechanism for the Volcker Rule. (Economics of Contempt )
Mimicking a foreign accent helps you communicate. (Telegraph )
