Opening Bell: 3.10.15
Credit Suisse appoints Tidjane Thiam as CEO (Reuters)
Credit Suisse on Tuesday said it will appoint Tidjane Thiam as chief executive, to replace Brady Dougan, who will step down at the end of June 2015.
How Brady Dougan’s Climb Up a Swiss Peak Ended: Timeline (Bloomberg)
1959: Dougan is born in Urbana, Illinois, the youngest of five siblings. His father, a railway dispatcher, moves the family to coal-mining and farm town Murphysboro seven years later 2015: Credit Suisse revises its fourth-quarter 2014 profit to include a provision for mortgage-related litigation. Less than two weeks later, Credit Suisse is poised to replace Dougan with Prudential Plc’s Tidjane Thiam.
Hedge-Fund Manager’s Next Frontier: Lawsuits (WSJ)
Mr. Friedman’s next act may be his most unorthodox: His Arlington, Va.-based EJF Capital LLC has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for a new litigation-finance arm that will lend to law firms pursuing class-action injury lawsuits, people familiar with the firm said. The firms will repay EJF at hefty interest rates as they earn fees from settlements and judgments. The suits include those related to transvaginal mesh, a medical treatment that props up organs protruding into the vagina, and Risperdal, a former top-selling Johnson & Johnson schizophrenia drug that causes the abnormal development of breasts in some men, people familiar with the firm said.
Bosses Who Love Themselves (NYT)
Try to avoid working for a company with a narcissist at the top. That’s because narcissistic C.E.O.s tend to overspend on investments and deliver substandard results. On top of that, they are often paid more than their humbler yet better-performing peers, according to a recent study. Researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing the signatures of about 450 chief executives at public companies. The size of a person’s signature is positively associated with many of the traits of narcissism, such as ego, exploitativeness and dominance, said Charles Ham, a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland and one of the C.E.O. study’s authors, along with Nicholas Seybert, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, and Sean Wang, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...Then the researchers looked at the executives’ level of investment and tracked later results. Given the data, it appears that the narcissists talked a good game but could not live up to it.
‘Foodie bandit’ stole more than $4K in fish, beef from trucks (NYP)
The suspect grabbed about nearly $1,300 worth of seafood from a truck that was about to make a delivery at the new restaurant LYFE, opened by Oprah’s trainer on West 55th Street around 10 a.m., Feb. 26, police said. He made off with $950 worth of black cod, 20 pounds of lobster valued at $150, 22 pounds of Branzino worth $120 and 10 pounds, or roughly $50 worth of salmon, cops said. “This guy looks the part and definitely knows what he’s doing,” a law enforcement source said. A day earlier, the foodie bandit hit a truck outside the Hooters on West 56th Street and grabbed about $2,000 in beef, $160 in Cornish hens, about $40 in cash and an mp3 player. On the same day as the LYFE job, police said the crook hit a truck parked outside the AKA Central Park hotel and grabbed $476 worth of strip steak and 40 pounds of stewing beef, valued around $200. “The guy dresses like a laborer in a one-piece suit and he uses a hand-truck,” the source added. Video surveillance caught the suspect in front of Hooters, where he allegedly snatched the cornish hens and five large boxes of steak. Investigators believe he may have a car, possibly with a getaway driver, parked nearby to deal with the sheer volume of his culinary delights.
Fed Broadens Scope of Stress Tests (WSJ)
The so-called annual stress tests for banks is becoming a misnomer. Conceived in 2009 by the Federal Reserve as narrow, once-a-year snapshots of bank health, the tests have morphed into protracted top-to-bottom examinations that have required firms to revamp their balance sheets, hire thousands of staff and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on preparations. In the latest reflection of this shift, Fed officials tell The Wall Street Journal the process is being integrated into their year-round supervision of banks, rather than being squeezed into a monthslong sprint each year.
At Goldman Sachs, Stress Test Results Could Endanger an Important Profit Source (Dealbook)
Several analysts have released research questioning whether the Federal Reserve would allow Goldman to continue its buyback programs given the results of the stress tests. Brian Kleinhanzl, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, estimated that if Goldman is unable to repurchase shares, it could earn 42 cents a share less than expected this year, and $1.78 a share less than expected next year. “There is an expectation that they could be at risk,” said Steve Chubak, a bank analyst with Nomura.
Europe’s Central Bank Bets Big on Stimulus [Reuters]
If the bond buying succeeds in lifting growth across the 19-country eurozone, from powerful Germany to struggling Greece and Italy, the bank will have bolstered its powers for dealing with future crises. If it fails to spur new activity or exposes the ECB to financial losses ultimately borne by taxpayers, the program will be seen as a risky endeavor that widened the gap between rich and poor, added to social strains and allowed governments to avoid taking difficult moves to make their economies more competitive.
JPMorgan reshuffle sees four rising stars gain prominence (FT)
A wind of change has swept through the upper echelons of Wall Street’s main investment banks over the past week. From Goldman Sachs to Morgan Stanley, most have made key appointments to either consolidate their dominance in certain markets or tackle their weaknesses in others. Yet, the boldest changes at the top occurred at JPMorgan, which picked four 40-something bankers to co-head their North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa operations in an effort to propel a new generation of leaders to guide the investment bank in an ever more complex and frenzied mergers and acquisitions market.
$200,000 Lamborghini with no license plates abandoned on Texas highway (NYDN)
Mystery surrounded the ditching of a crashed Lamborghini on a Texas highway over the weekend. The yellow supercar was found smashed into a barrier on the southbound side of the Dallas North Tollway early Sunday morning, reports WFAA. It did not appear to have license plates. Cops responded and found the crumpled-up car had "no identifying information inside." Officers say they believe whoever was behind the wheel abandoned the vehicle after having an accident. The exact make of the car, which could be worth up to $200,000, has not been revealed. But it was taken to a Dallas police impound lot, reports KVUE. Luxury car rental company Exotic Skittles had earlier hired out the Lamborghini. The driver has not been identified. Police continue to investigate.
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