You may have heard that some shit is going down in Europe. This came as some surprise to me since I stopped paying attention to that whole continent when the banks were all fixed in December. What could possibly go wrong? I asked myself loudly, to drown out all the “Greece talks near [success / catastrophe]” I’d otherwise be hearing. Well, for one thing, some of those banks actually refused to be fixed just because they were, and I hope I’m representing their claims accurately here, “not broken”:
“The fact that we have never taken any money from the government has made us, from a reputation point of view, so attractive with so many clients in the world that we would be very reluctant to give that up,” said Josef Ackermann, Deutsche Bank’s chief executive, explaining to analysts last week why the German lender didn’t borrow from the ECB.
Mr. Ackermann said Deutsche Bank still is scarred from its experience borrowing from the Federal Reserve in the first phase of the financial crisis in 2008. U.S. regulators encouraged banks to borrow under the cloak of promised confidentiality, but when the banks’ identities were subsequently disclosed by the Fed, the recipients were dubbed bailout recipients. “We learned a lesson,” Mr. Ackermann said.
It’s a valuable lesson. While once government largesse was free and secret, we’ve recently seen all sorts of strings being attached to bailouts, from minor inconveniences like “if you take our bailout we’ll make you pay off (some of) your debts” to game-changing restrictions like “I don’t want my tax dollars to be used for some sort of pro-gay stunt like this.”* Continue reading »
Today is bonus communication day at DB and while there are no specifics to be had just yet, apparently those hoping their decision to do the bare minimum last year would be handsomely rewarded were in for a disappointment. Continue reading »
Some employees are preemptively miffed and, frankly, insulted.
“Deutsche bonus structure for Associates-Directors was revealed today:
*Up to eur50, all cash.
*Eur50-100, 70% deferred. Yes…
*Eur100+, 85% deferred.”
Continue reading »
Cuts are said to have gone down over the past two days. Continue reading »
Cuts started yesterday and apparently the fun is not over yet. Continue reading »
They’re willing to entertain an offer. Continue reading »
As you may have heard, following the middle of night raid on Zuccotti Park by the NYPD, Occupy Wall Street protestors kicked things up a notch Thursday, with full-scale gatherings in downtown Manhattan, a rally outside the stock exchange and a march back to the Brookefield-owned place they call home. Things escalated quite quickly, with officers reportedly punching protestors (and journalists), sealing off the park and making arrests inside and, apparently, bloodying one man’s face and possibly also removing his pants, for some reason. One guy not affiliated with the police but who also had a bit of a confrontation with the demonstrators chose a less violent, more effective tack to get his point across. Continue reading »
Deutsche Bank said Monday that the bank’s Chief Executive Josef Ackermann won’t take over as chairman of the supervisory board when he steps down in May, and it is proposing Allianz SE financial chief Paul Achleitner for the position instead. Citing “extremely challenging” conditions on the international financial markets and in the political-regulatory environment,” Mr. Ackermann said he must focus on his tasks as CEO right now, according to a statement from the bank. This means he can’t spend time seeking the support of shareholders for his bid to be supervisory board chairman. Supervisory board candidates need the support of 25% of the shareholders to be elected. A person familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires that Mr. Ackermann didn’t have the time do the necessary lobbying and couldn’t win their backing. Another person familiar with the matter said: “It became obvious that Ackermann couldn’t secure this.” [WSJ]
The Germans said this morning that 1) employees will face the ax if the “environment” doesn’t improve a-SAP 2) these cuts would be on top of those previously announced and 3) have you ever wondered why DB hasn’t had to announce that it’s letting go of 20 or 30 or 40,000 people? According to Stefan Krause it’s because the bank has been “proactive” about cutting staff, doing a little bit each day so it’s not overwhelming. Continue reading »
Sources believe that Europe’s banking giants, including Deutsche Bank, UBS and Credit Suisse, along with Societe Generale and Dexia, are preparing to wield the ax in a way not witnessed since the depths of the financial crisis in 2008. “People will be fired everywhere,” said Dick Bove, an outspoken bank analyst at Rochdale Securities. [NYP]
Well, okay, it wasn’t exactly a layoff in the strictness sense of the word, more like an entirely voluntary resignation by Rick Perry’s son from his job at Deutsche Bank so he could go campaign with dad, but Momma Perry interpreted that as Griffin Perry ‘losing’ his job thanks to that damn Obama guy [shakes fist] so just go with it. Same diff/no diff. Continue reading »
