U.S. I-Bankers Feeling Disrespected
There’s a dirty little secret on Wall Street. Despite the layoffs, bonus cuts and scandals, most U.S. investment bankers did a pretty good job last year, at least compared to their brethren across the pond and in Asia. Now they appear sick of doing the heavy lifting and have begun to grumble.
Barclays this week cut between 5% and 10% of its capital markets, advisory and other investment banking units in the U.S., just days before bonuses are scheduled to be announced, a source within the bank told eFC. The firm will also lay off an additional 275 employees in May as part of its strategic review. Yet the bank’s Americas division accounted for roughly two-thirds of the M&A fees generated by the bank during the first three quarters of 2012. U.S. i-bankers at Barclays believe they booked a strong fourth quarter, the source said. Barclays reports earnings next week.
U.S. investment bankers at Deutsche Bank, who received word of their bonuses on Tuesday, feel equal frustration. “Several groups had their best year ever, killed their numbers and pay was flat,” a Deutsche Bank i-banker told eFC via email. “We don't expect 2013 to look like 2012, thus assume that next year’s numbers will be down.”
The employee ended the email with a sarcastic quip: “Good times.”
Indeed.
Deutsche Bank has suspended five traders amid a probe into the alleged manipulation of the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor.
Royal Bank of Scotland has no interest in picking up the full tab to cover its $612 million Libor fine. It plans to claw back three-quarters of the money from bonuses that have already been paid.
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner isn’t headed to Wall Street, as we expected. He’s set to join the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and plans to author a book.
We’ve given business school students tips on what kinds of questions they’ll be asked in job interviews. Here’s how to present yourself properly while rattling off answers.
Winners and Losers (Bloomberg)
Investment bankers and traders took home around 3% less in 2012 than the previous year. Portfolio managers and other executives in asset management, on the other hand, saw a 6% bump in total compensation.
Barclays is the latest bank to allocate more resources to wealth management. The U.K. firm is opening a new office in Beverly Hills. Plenty of wealth there.
‘Disgraceful’ Behavior (Financial News)
Here’s the farewell letter John Hourican, the former head of RBS’s investment banking arm, sent to his staff after he stepped down amid the Libor scandal. It’s definitely worth a read.
In yesterday’s Morning Coffee, we mistakenly referred to Jim O’Neill as the chairman of Goldman Sachs’ investment management arm. He is the chair of their asset management arm. Our apologies.
Buzz Around the Office
This Isn’t People’s Court (Yahoo)
An 18-year-old Miami woman made a number of mistakes in her short interaction with Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat. Likely her biggest error was flipping him the middle finger.
List of the Day: Buzzwords
New to the workforce? Here are three buzzwords and phrases that you better get used to.
- Bandwidth.
- Circle Back.
- High-Level View.
