AIG Is Said to Query Bonus Holdouts in Push for $45 Million of Concessions (Bloomberg)
The insurer mailed questionnaires this month to ex-workers at the Financial Products unit asking whether they’d earned income after leaving AIG, said the people, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are private. Under the program, compensation earned by former AIG staff in 2009 from another employer would lower payouts to be delivered next week from the New York-based company, the people said.
Big Majority Of Americans Wants Wall Street Regulation (Reuters)
Supposedly: “82 percent of Americans want the government to clamp down more strongly on Wall Street excesses, with a particular emphasis on bonus schemes that have rewarded employees at loss-making companies such as AIG.”
UBS Lobbies for Swiss-U.S. Deal (WSJ)
The IRS has uncovered as many as 20 other Swiss private banks as part of a tax amnesty aimed at declaring funds to the authority, according to a UBS document seen by Dow Jones Newswires Friday. In the document, UBS argues that a parliamentary no-vote could also harm the other Swiss banks who offered services to wealthy Americans. “Switzerland’s refusal to honor its international obligations could send an escalating signal,” UBS writes in the seven-page document, which was sent to Swiss parliamentarians this week.
$$$ Warren Buffett and Lehman ‘Never Got Close‘ to Deal [CNBC]
$$$Pandit: Citigroup Sees Return to Sustained Profitability [Reuters]
$$$ “The Eller College of Management is more stressful than the United States Marine Corps,” Finelli said. “The workload is enormous. Take away the possibility of getting killed or maimed, and the Eller school is more difficult than the Marines.” [Wildcat]
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According to the examiner’s report, a little bit of both. (Since Anton Valukas apparently has no interest in telling both sides of the story, it falls on us to remind you that Dick has his own theory for why LEH went under: the adoption of Casual Friday).
Fuld was warned months before the bankruptcy by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that Lehman might fail if it continued to report losses without finding a buyer or putting in place a survival plan, according to the report.
Lehman’s chief was “at least grossly negligent in causing Lehman to file misleading periodic reports” while its risks were rising because of long-term assets financed with short-term debt, Valukas said in the report.
Lehman’s executives engaged in conduct ranging from “non- culpable errors of business judgment” to “actionable balance sheet manipulation,” as they used “accounting gimmicks” to move assets off the balance sheet without disclosing that to the government, rating agencies, investors or Lehman’s board.
Also supposedly not helping matters was Pandit. That damn Pandit. And Jamie Dimon but he gets a pass because he can do whatever he wants. Continue reading »
Now, before you get huffy and think: 'Big time baseball player touching boobs he's not supposed to,' just take a breather.
It’s not money trouble, so that’s a good thing but it is sexual harassment-type trouble, which is unfortunate, especially given Nails’ declaration earlier this week that he’s ready to “once again claim his role as a productive member of society.” In fairness to LD, the incident in question took place last May, which was before he decided to stop shitting on the floor. It’s also before he was thrown out of his house, so reading through the suit by Jacqueline Massaro, Dykstra’s former “Estate Manager/Personal Assistant,” has got to hurt (memories, whatnot). Continue reading »
I see your precious 3 letters and raise you 3 of my own: S a D
For those of you currently debating whether or not obtaining a CFA charter is worth flushing several years of your life down the toilet, I’d like you to consider one thing. When and if you finally do pass that third exam do you want the institute to own your ass? Budding pornographers, erotic novelists and really anyone with a taste for the finer things in life should think long and hard. Nickolas Keith Gustafsson (pictured) knows what we’re talking about. From the March/April CFA Magazine/Journal of Shame:
Marko believes he’s right for the gig because he “knows where the skeletons are buried on Wall Street.” David Weidner thinks he’s wrong for it because he’s “self-righteous,” “a little bit crazy,” and had the stones to say Tom Hanks, Matt Damon or Nicholas Cage should play him in a movie. These were securities law professor John “McEnroe” Coffee’s two cents: “He is what the commission needs only if the commission needs an emotionally unstable idiot savant. You cannot be serious.”
The Daily Princetonian is running a very exciting 3-part series on “careers in investment banking and consulting.” The first article ran earlier this week. The topic was bull shit. Specifically the bull shit lies college students tell to make them feel better about their life choices.
Such as:
“Money is an attractive factor, but it’s not the real reason people go into an investment bank,” said Rebecca Yu ’11, a physics concentrator who applied for an internship at Goldman Sachs this summer. “I think — at least, I hope — that people do it because they’re genuinely interested in [investment banking].”
Earlier this week, Lindsay Lohan filed a suit against E*Trade. The claim? That the baby in the brokerage’s latest commercial was based on her life. Lohan came to this conclusion because the character’s name is Lindsay, she’s referred to as a “milk-a-holic,” and there’s a suggestion that the young one is a man-stealing tramp (she also claimed that though the name “Lohan” is never mentioned, she’s attained first name recognition. Plus, the stuff about the baby being a strung out slut). For the grave offense, Lohan wants the spots pulled, and $100 million for the emotional distress they’ve caused her. Though not trained lawyers in the classical sense, our take was that while it seemed like Lindsay was being a little paranoid (/in need of money, and brilliantly tapping a new revenue stream), that whore-baby was definitely her. To that end, today the Postreveals how your loose Lindsay sausage got made.
The intimate glimpse into the Madison Avenue sausage-making process was provided by an Esquire magazine reporter, who was granted access to meetings at Grey Group as they hashed out the details for the spot. According to internal documents obtained by the magazine, workers at the Fifth Avenue ad company can be seen brainstorming on Sept. 10 about a cutting, but FCC-friendly, word to describe a trollop of a tyke named Deborah.
But less than three weeks later, in a document from Sept. 28, Deborah’s name is crossed out and replaced with “Lindsay,” according to the mag.
On the same page as Lindsay’s name is a slew of sleazy descriptors including “gutter hound,” “fish face,” “rug burn” and “skanky cake.”
When asked if the tramp baby was based on Lindsay, creative director Tor Myrhen said, “Not at all. I don’t think we even thought of it at the time.” Anyway! Let’s roll that tape again. Continue reading »
UBS US Wealth Management is laying off significant amounts of employees in the home office today and tomorrow. General estimates are around 300. I have already seen 5 of my friends in the group next to me leave (total group size of 15!) and its only 45 minutes since they began. Cuts are at all levels, mid-senior to analysts. Morale is extremely low.
Geithner warns of rift on EU regulation (FT)
A letter sent by Mr Geithner this month to Michel Barnier, Europe’s internal market commissioner, makes clear that the European Union is heading for a clash with Washington if it pushes ahead with what the US – and Britain – fear could be a protectionist law to regulate the hedge fund and private equity industries.
Ex-Cazenove Partner Found Guilty Of Insider Trading (WSJ)
Malcolm Calvert, a former partner at U.K. stockbroker Cazenove known by his peers as “Streaky,” was found guilty of five counts of insider trading in a case at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday.
HSBC Says Swiss Data Theft Affects 24,000 Accounts (ABC)
The bank was just kidding when it said previously that “less than 10 clients” were affected after Herve Falciani — a former HSBC computer specialist — stole client data from the bank which he handed over to French tax authorities.
Goldman Deal-Maker Now Advocates Regulation (NYT)
Gary Gensler’s conversion would seem to put him at odds with his mentors, like Robert E. Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, and with his former colleagues on Wall Street. “Wall Street’s interest is not always the same as the public’s interest,” he says now. “Wall Street thrives and makes money in inefficient markets, and I am creating efficiencies in the market.”
GMAC Bailout Could Cost Taxpayers $6.3 Billion (AP)
“Treasury missed many opportunities to improve accountability and protect taxpayer money,” panel chair Elizabeth Warren said in a conference call with reporters. She said Treasury didn’t make GMAC show how it would return the taxpayer money, or how the investment would increase credit to consumers. “These decisions mean that Treasury is now struggling to deal with a GMAC that is not financially rehabilitated, Treasury has no exit strategy and taxpayers are not fully protected,” Warren said. Continue reading »
$$$Roubini: Economy ‘Far too Close’ to Double Dip [CNBC]
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$$$World’s Top Billionaires: 1) Carlos Slim Helú 2) William Gates III 3) Warren Buffett 4) Mukesh Ambani 5) Lakshmi Mittal 6) Lawrence Ellison 7) Bernard Arnault 8) Eike Batista 9) Amancio Ortega 10) Karl Albrecht [Forbes]
