Opening Bell: 2.19.15
U.S. Shifts Focus of Morgan Stanley Breach Probe (WSJ)
Morgan Stanley fired the adviser, Galen Marsh, last month after he acknowledged accessing account information on 350,000 of the firm’s wealth-management clients and taking it home with him. His firing occurred not long after details related to 1,200 accounts were posted online along with an offer to sell a larger stash of information. Mr. Marsh, 30 years old, has denied posting any of the data online or seeking to sell it. Federal law-enforcement officials are focusing their probe on the possibility that Mr. Marsh’s computer was hacked.
JP Morgan Goes To War (Bloomberg)
Convinced that it faces threats from governments in China, Iran, and Russia, and that the U.S. government isn’t doing enough to help, JPMorgan has built a vast security operation and staffed it increasingly with ex-military officers. Soon after joining the bank in early 2014, Cummings helped hire Gregory Rattray—like Cummings, a former Air Force colonel—as chief information security officer. Together the men oversee a digital security staff of 1,000, more than twice the size of Google’s security group. To make it easier to woo military talent, the bank built a security services facility in Maryland near Fort Meade, home of the National Security Agency.
Germany Rejects Greek Request for Bailout Extension (WSJ)
Greece and its eurozone creditors are poised for another round of tough negotiations over extending the government’s bailout program, after Germany summarily rejected a request for an extension sent by Athens on Thursday morning. “The letter from Athens doesn’t offer a substantial proposal for a solution. In reality, it aims for a bridging loan without meeting the terms of the [bailout] program,” Martin Jäger, spokesman for Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, said in a statement a few hours after receiving the request.
Cops stumped by gender of wig-wearing bank robber (NYP)
The cops are going to have a hell of a time figuring out what jail to lock this crook in. A gender-bending bandit armed with a scary-looking weapon targeted a New Jersey bank Wednesday, making off with up to $110,000 and leaving behind a host of questions about his — or her — sex. “We are trying to determine if it was a man or a female,” said Detective James Calaski of the Glen Rock, NJ, police. “I can’t tell just from the picture.” A surveillance photo of the long-haired crook in feminine glasses only raised more doubt about whether the individual was a woman or a man in a wild red wig.
High-Speed Firm Virtu Revives IPO Plans (WSJ)
One of the world’s biggest high-frequency trading firms is betting that the “Flash Boys” furor is behind it. Virtu Financial Inc. is reviving its plan to go public, and is expected to file a revised IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission within days, according to people familiar with the matter. The new paperwork will contain updates to the information Virtu filed last year before it indefinitely delayed its IPO in the wake of the publication of “Flash Boys,” a book that sparked controversy over high-frequency trading.
The Demise of Finance Jobs in New York City (Bloomberg)
Jobs in the nation's financial nerve center have been on a downward trajectory since the 1990s. Hiring there failed to fully recover from the bursting of the dot-com bubble and has essentially flatlined since the 2008 crash. Leisure and hospitality on the other hand -- from working in the ticket booth at a Broadway theater to checking in guests at the Marriott hotel -- are catching up.
Switzerland flexes parliamentary muscle as scrutiny of HSBC intensifies (Reuters)
Swiss lawmakers plan to question the country's financial watchdog about HSBC's Swiss bank to determine whether parliament needs to take a more active role in investigation of a trove of details on alleged tax evasion by some of the bank's wealthy clients. The Alpine nation's banking sector is back in the spotlight after media reports said that customers of HSBC's Swiss subsidiary had been helped to conceal millions of dollars of assets, sparking regulatory inquiries and an admission by Europe's largest lender of failings in compliance and controls.
Skijoring event combines skiing with horse racing (UPI)
Winter sports fans gathered in a Colorado town for an annual event called skijoring, a sport combining skiing with horse racing. The skiers in Silverton, Colo., were towed down Blair Street by horses during the weekend for an annual competition involving about 20 teams of competitors and an estimated 1,500 spectators. "Who doesn't like seeing a horse going down the main street of a town pulling a skier, going off five-to-six foot jumps and getting rings?" veteran competitor Darin Anderson told KOB-TV.