Lunchtime Links: 20% of staff to go at Man Group; what happens to RBS if Hester gets poached by UBS?

As we pointed out on Wednesday, jobs at Man Group and GLG haven't seemed particularly secure ever since it emerged that assets plummeted 8% between June and September. Now, the Financial Times has revealed that the company has doubled its planned redundancies. 20% of staff will go. So far, it says cutting has been focused on back office staff in London. That could now change, although traders are apparently unlikely to be affected.

In other news, UBS has appointed Egon Zehnder to find someone to replace Oswald Gruebel. According to the Wall Street Journal, there are at least two potential candidates: Bill Winters or Stephen Hester.

Winters, however, isn't seen as being ideal. The paper points out that he's never actually run a big bank and doesn't know much about wealth management. Hester, on the other hand, knows a lot about turning (or trying to turn) banks around and has an empirical feel for Swiss banks. He spent 20 years at Credit Suisse and speaks French.

No one's saying that Hester will leave, but if he did, where would this leave RBS? For all his efforts, the bank's share price has fallen nearly 50% since May. Now is not the time for RBS to lose its chief executive.

Morgan Stanley's CDS now suggest it's as risky as the biggest Italian banks. (Bloomberg)

Morgan Stanley is winning the race to the bottom against Bank of America. (Alphaville)

Investment banking fees in the third quarter are at their lowest level since the Lehman collapse. (Financial Times)

Deutsche Bank also thinks Goldman Sachs will make a loss in the third quarter. (Financial News)

Deutsche Bank may lower its profit target. (Bloomberg)

Deutsche has sold some senior unsecured bank debt! (Financial Times)

"I'm not convinced that this bailout package is going to be remotely enough for the euro zone itself. I think it should start with a T not a B." (Bloomberg)

Something profound has changed. Germans have begun to sense that the preservation of their own democracy and rule of law is in conflict with demands from Europe. (Telegraph)

The UK can veto the transactions tax, but it can't veto European regulations on derivatives clearing, where it's about to be overruled. (Financial Times)

London objects EU proposals to inject competition only into over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, excluding derivatives traded on exchanges. (Telegraph)

ICAP would move its main operations away from London "extremely rapidly" if faced with a European financial transactions tax. (Financial Times)

How to stop a 2nd Great Depression. (Financial Times)

How to be annoying. (ArtLung)