Stamford

  • 25 Oct 2010 at 11:14 AM

Layoffs Watch ’10: RBS Trying Not To Make A Scene As It Cuts Higher-Ups In Stamford?

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Several weeks back, we mentioned that RBS had plans to cut about ten percent of the Stamford staff, with the timing being unclear though before the end of the year. Today we received a bit more info, namely that the assumption inside is that the bank will be cutting people slowly (just a few people have been let go so far), possibly to avoid press. Continue reading »

  • 30 Aug 2010 at 12:30 PM

Challenge Extended

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“Just putting it out there: another one of Stamford’s gifts to the world is Jimmy’s aka The Seaside Tavern. Jimmy’s has introduced Seaside’s challenge – 25 sliders, pitcher of beer, and fries. Some guy tried it the other night and only got through 18 (pics enclosed). I’m thinking there should be an RBS & UBS playoff to battle the King and his fleeced armada. Any takers?” Continue reading »

  • 16 Jul 2010 at 4:10 PM

Beamers Cafe: “Not Some Fly By Night Organization”

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As you may recall, a couple months back, a managing director at UBS was pulled over in Connecticut and charged with a DUI (he also had an unlicensed firearm on him, for good measure). At the time, the man for some reason felt compelled to tell the cops that a) he worked in the financial services industry and b) he was coming from Beamers Cafe, Stamford’s premier strip club. As I read the story, a coupla things became clear to me: 1) that guy likes to party and 2) that the cultural relevance of this institution to Wall Street North could no longer be ignored. You may also recall that I proceeded to announce a DealBreaker Field Trip to said establishment, and invited some people from CNBC to come with. The field trip is still on. However, I decided I couldn’t just take you a strip club without scouting the location first and having an idea as to what we could expect, you know? Rather, performing some on-site due diligence ahead of time was necessary. Last night, I did just that. Continue reading »

  • 18 Feb 2010 at 2:47 PM

RBS Will Not Be Made To Feel Guilty About Its Huge, Gleaming Trading Floor, On-Site Massages

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Picture 178.pngRBS moved into its new building in Stamford, an 11-story palace on I-95, almost a year ago. So there’s been loads of time for anyone interested in making the team feel bad about the fact that despite having 84 percent of its ass owned by the British government and the massive taxpayer bailout, the bank shelled out the money to build one of the most enormous and impressive trading floors in the world, where employees needn’t leave headquarters to grab a few drinks and watch whatever Olympic event tickles their fancy, as there’s a sports bar conveniently located inside. And yet. Today the Times seems to go out of its way to to point out that RBS, “the British version of Citigroup or the American International Group,” should be embarrassed to inhabit this place, rather than something more in line with their success, like the parking lot of the Howard Johnson in Riverside.

Like A.I.G., the British bank has been the target of many attacks by unhappy taxpayers, including protests during the Group of 20 summit meeting in London in April 2009 and a snowball barrage on some of its workers in London two months earlier that became popular images on the Internet. Last month, the British singer Billy Bragg rallied a crowd in Hyde Park in London to demand that R.B.S halt bonus payments.
And so, five time zones away, executives in R.B.S.’s American outpost are a bit cautious as they give a tour of their new offices, a $500 million building designed in 2006. “It’s very bull market,” said Michael Lyublinsky, co-head of global banking and markets for R.B.S. in the Americas…the 11-story building would probably stir the ire of British taxpayers already reeling from a government bailout of more than $71 billion at today’s exchange rate. But perhaps luckily for the workers here, those taxpayers are an ocean away.

Did the company ever consider “canceling the move in light of the bank’s problems,” the Times would like to know? Fuck no they didn’t, and let me tell you why. Reason number one: the cash bonuses they didn’t pay their employees for the past several years mostly made up for the costs associated with building this place. You know this is true because members of the staff were in such financial straits that they had to steal money from the firm. Reason number two: it’s not like they didn’t try to be sensitive to what people might think, which is why that sports bar? Was re-branded a “coffee bar.” And reason number three: it makes everyone feel really good about themselves.

Continue reading »

  • 06 May 2009 at 1:23 PM

The Truth Is In Stamford

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We know, we know. The crushing blows being delivered to New York’s financial sector are crushing every other sector in New York. Yes, we feel it too. But take a few moments to remember that Manhattan is not the center of the world. Well, not entirely the center of the world. You know, get some… what do they call it exactly… perspective? Express some deeper understanding for your fellows. After all, New York City is not the only hub of finance in New England. Have you forgotten Stamford, Connecticut?

In 2002, UBS AG built North America’s biggest trading floor here. Not to be outdone, rival Royal Bank of Scotland broke ground across the street in 2006, planning its own lavish headquarters — and a trading floor nearly as large.
Then the turmoil on Wall Street began, shaking and shrinking these giants of the financial-services industry.
So what is next for the city that has garnered the reputation, at least locally, as “Wall Street North?”
It is a question frequently heard around Stamford, a city whose growth in recent years is owed in large part to the financial-services sector. Aside from its twin banking giants, Stamford’s financial companies include Thomson Reuters Corp., General Re Corp., part of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and a slew of hedge funds and smaller companies that sprouted up in the last 15 years. In 2006, at the RBS groundbreaking, Mayor Dan Malloy declared that “Stamford’s place in the financial industry in the world, as a capital of financial services, is now secure.”

Yeah… maybe not so much.
Remember how Vancouver was sort of the Stamford of Canada (ok, it is nothing like Stamford but that’s not the point) until some sage film production tax breaks and media incentives turned it into a throbbing, vibrant mecca for people who wanted to film the X-Files? That is, until no one wanted to film X-Files in Vancouver anymore and they all preferred to be in Los Angeles. But in the interim, there were a lot of good years.
Well, Vancouver, Stamford is going to eat your lunch:

To weather the downturn, city officials know they can no longer bank only on banks. Instead, they are looking west — to Hollywood.
[...]
The state offers a 30% tax credit on production and a 20% tax credit on infrastructure costs exceeding $1 million, factors cited by NBC Universal when it announced earlier this year it will be shifting production of several shows, including “The Jerry Springer Show” and “Maury,” along with some 150 jobs, to Stamford.

Outstanding!
Trouble in ‘Wall Street North’ Spurs Search for New Identity [The Wall Street Journal]