Hiring Spree Gets Long In The Tooth (WSJ)
Wall Street employees about to return from the summer doldrums have something new to worry about: their jobs. The weak economy, volatile markets, regulatory upheaval and changes in how traders and investment bankers are paid are starting to trigger job cuts that could reverse a recent rebound in overall employment levels at banks and securities firms. While the firings so far add up to a tiny slice of all Wall Street jobs, companies and analysts say deeper cuts are looming unless business revs up soon. “When push comes to shove, Wall Street firms are erring on the side of caution,” says Michael Franzino, head of the global financial-services practice at executive-search firm Korn/Ferry International in New York.
Blackstone Makes Big Move into Chinese Housing (FT)
Blackstone has agreed to back the development by Great Eagle of more than 1,000 new homes in Dalian in Liaoning, a coastal city and port in northern China. The scheme is also set to include more than 400 hotel rooms, and is expected to be built in several stages.
UBS Revs Up Campaign To Woo Back Clients (NYT)
In the new campaign, which is planned for television, the Internet and print across the world, UBS “selected different great achievements by people that became famous by not resting,” the bank said. “The core of UBS’s identity is the focus on long-term relationships. The slogan ‘We will not rest’ expresses the attitude that is required to achieve this.” One image of the campaign shows Mr. Armstrong’s footprint on the moon underneath a text that says “until Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, he would not rest. Nor would his crew.”
Tax Cheats as Sailboat Owners Become $13 Billion Italy Dragnet (Bloomberg)
Inspectors identified beach clubs on the Amalfi Coast listed as money-losing, non-profit organizations that instead serve haute cuisine and cocktails to beachgoers who shell out 50 euros to lounge on a sunbed under an umbrella on the sand. An erotic club in northeast Italy that not only lacked a license, all 32 of its lap dancers “declared, in unison, that they were putting on their first performance,” and hadn’t had the time to get their working papers. “In Capri, we found a person on a luxury yacht who was officially listed as having no assets and in need of welfare,” Magistro said. “First he said he didn’t know who the boat belonged to, then, after checking, we discovered he led a life of luxury and owned several properties, none of them declared.”
They Still Don’t Get It (Slate)
Eliot Spitzer’s got some beef with the Wall Street Journal.
Mortgage Fraud Is On The Rise Again (WSJ)
Data prepared for The Wall Street Journal by research firm CoreLogic, examining about seven million home loans made by hundreds of lenders, show that losses from mortgage fraud—ranging from falsified credit reports to identity theft—rose 17% last year after declining 57% in the two years after its 2006 peak.
Brokers face fines over role in flash crash (FT)
FINRA is undertaking a “sweep” of broker-dealers that offer market access to high-frequency traders to find out if they allowed these firms to run computerised trading programs without undertaking proper risk-management controls. “We’re looking to find out if the brokers understood what was being done with the algorithm and whether the high-frequency trader had thought through how it would work under big market changes,” Richard Ketchum, chairman and chief executive of Finra, told the Financial Times.
Bess, tell your uncle that those are some damn fine photographs.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/andy-levins-coney-island/?hp
I read “…to woo black clients”
Maybe they (UBS) should put a taco stand? There aren’t that may in Stamford, CT. Bet they would get lots of clients.
UBS _____.
Ready, go!
@4 – “is a damn fine place to work”?
@3 We did some research on that. Here is what we found:
http://www.ctbites.com/home/2010/2/2/the-great-stamford-taco-crawl.html
btw, you’re fired. Lousy intern.
Pssh. UBS, just go on CNBC.
-Rebellion Research Marketing VP
Leaked MLB financials
http://deadspin.com/5615096/mlb-confidential-the-financial-documents-baseball-doesnt-want-you-to-see-part-1
“We have no idea what caused the Flash Crash, but we’re going to start pointing fingers anyway. Oh, and the first thing we are goign to assume is that is it an Eastern European Conspiracy”
-Rocky and Bullwinkle
Confounding Boris and Nastasha since 1961
Why can’t UBS just settle for simplicity and clarity?
UBS – Without U, it’s just BS.
UBS Sucks!!!!
All I want right now is my nymag.com Mad Men recap.
I am going through Bonobos withdrawl……I just need one more pik toggle….just …one …more..
hell yes, UBS!
@13 People who know how to spell?
@13 I suspect like many deals Blackstone did recently. They would have gotten themselves a sweet deal with their Hong Kong partner (Great Eagle). The project concerned is not big at all (ie a great chance to test the water). It is only 1,000 flats and a hotel with 400 rooms or so, no biggy. Blackstone would have obtained senior partner status with a minimum rate of return from the project. Great Eagle will probably have to bear any and all losses. Great Eagle is a Hong Kong property developer listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is infinitely more reliable than a mainland China company.
In China, cashed-up P/E firms are better sources of finance than banks with Beijing clamping down on bank lending – especially for property development.
@2 So did I…
Good morning friends. It’s going to be a wonderful day! Come on now, who’s with me! :)