A Kinder, Gentler Bernanke in a Skirt
Fed chief Ben Bernanke’s plan to skip the central bank’s annual shindig in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has ramped up speculation about his likely successor. One frontrunner to follow 59-year-old Bernanke: Janet Yellen, the current vice chairman at the Fed.
As Bloomberg reports, Yellen’s attitude toward monetary policy is more expansive than most central bankers. Most focus solely on inflation, setting an overall target and letting other economic indicators fall where they may. Yellen has long argued that central banks should take a more activist view and that government can act to offset long-term joblessness.
With her husband, George Akerlof, she argued in a paper published in 2004 that policy makers should act to counter long-term unemployment. At the time, she was president of the San Francisco Fed.
If she does succeed Bernanke as Fed chairman when his term ends next year, she would be the first woman to hold the post in the central bank’s 100-year history. With her husband, she’d also bring a lot of brainpower. Akerlof is a Nobel prize winner; he and Yellen, a 66-year-old former professor at the University of California, Berkeley, met at the Fed before both becoming professors at Berkeley.
Wealth Managers Jumping Ship (eFinancialCareers)
Financial advisers are rushing to switch employers before a new regulation requiring them to disclose signing bonuses kicks in. Once the new rule is in place – likely next year – wealth managers who accept six- and seven-figure signing bonuses at a new firm will have to disclose their windfall to clients.
Barclays Chief Executive Antony Jenkins is focusing on repairing the U.K. bank’s lousy public image. The latest technique: keeping an un-wandering eye on the press.
German M&A Activity (Bloomberg)
Germany’s lousy M&A market has contributed to a host of people moves in recent months. The latest involves German lender Commerzbank, which just named Christoph Thierolf its new head of M&A. He succeeds Philipp Mohr, who left the bank last year.
Impressive, But Shrinking (Business Insider)
G10 trading – or the trading of interest rates among the world’s largest countries – was a huge moneymaker in 2012, generating the most revenue per head among all other units at top investment banks. The sector is about to get crushed by regulation though.
Compliance Firm Expanding (FIN Alternatives)
Laven Partners, a U.K.-based consultancy firm that specializes in securities compliance and regulation, has named Tom Morgan as the new managing director of its New York office. Morgan’s responsibility is to expand the firm’s U.S. offerings, so they may be hiring. Laven didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The cost of compensation and benefits at private equity giant KKR were up roughly 20% in the first quarter as the company added headcount over the last year.
Andrew Cader, former head of Goldman Sachs’ Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, has been sued by Steel Partners Chief Executive Warren Lichtenstein, and it has nothing to do with business. Cader is dating the hedge fund chief’s ex-girlfriend, with whom Lichtenstein has a child. He is suing Cader for taking their daughter on an unauthorized trip to Hong Kong, jacking up his child support payments.
Buzz Around the Office
Don’t Get Lost in His Eyes (Asiantown)
Here’s a nice problem to have. Omar Borkan Al Gala, a photographer, actor and poet, was deported from Saudi Arabia for being too handsome.
List of the Day: Startup Interviews
When interviewing at a startup, you should change your routine slightly. Prepare to talk more about them than you.
- Ask about their business plan, including funding.
- Offer ideas on how they can improve their strategy.
- Write a thank-you note. It’s casual, but not that casual.
