Opening Bell: 12.18.17
Anonymous Email to Visa CEO Led to Top Executive’s Firing (WSJ)
This fall, Visa Inc. Chief Executive Alfred Kelly received a troubling, anonymous email: Jim McCarthy, one of his most senior and high-profile executives, had been involved in romantic relationships with women at the card giant, according to people familiar with the email’s content.
Centerview Partners has crushed 2017 — and its investment bankers will make a fortune in 2018 as well (BI)
Centerview is projected to earn $400 million to $500 million this year from advising on M&A deals. That works out to as much as $13.5 million in revenue per partner. The firm has just 37 partners yet routinely battles for high-profile assignments with Wall Street's bulge-bracket banks. By comparison, Citigroup promoted more than 30 new managing directors in its corporate and investment bank this week alone, and in November Goldman Sachs promoted 101 new investment-banking MDs.
Bitcoin ETF providers see new hope for approval (FT)
The launch of bitcoin derivatives by two big exchanges has encouraged potential ETF providers to push for approval of funds that would track bitcoin futures instead of the underlying cryptocurrency. Regulatory filings show that VanEck and Rex ETFs, which withdrew earlier applications after the SEC’s ruling on the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, refiled to launch bitcoin futures-based ETFs this month. Direxion Investments registered a bitcoin ETF on Friday.
Bitcoin will be niche asset for tech nerds in long term says ING bank analyst Teunis Brosens (CityAM)
"Nobody can forecast the future, but our current thinking is this: one day, beyond the hype, bitcoin will return to being the thriving niche product that it was in its initial years. Users will include tech nerds, people obsessed about their privacy, people afraid for (hyper)inflation in traditional currencies, and people wanting to circumvent central banks for ideological or criminal reasons," he said.
He Stole $100 Million From His Clients. Now He’s Living in Luxury on the Côte d’Azur (BBG)
There's no way Gaglio could have foreseen how events would have played out after he walked into that Paris police station in 2013. But by choosing where and when to confess, by revealing some activities and not others, by painting himself as a failed investor rather than a thief who was still moving money around the globe, he has been able to shape the narrative of his life long after he appeared to have run out of options.
Russian Banking Crisis: 3rd Major Bank Topples in 4 months (Wolf Street)
It’s Friday, and another Russian bank gets taken over and most of its creditors get bailed out by the Central Bank, this time the 10th largest bank in Russia, Promsvyazbank – with the top six being state-owned banks; with number seven, Bank Otkritie, having toppled in August; with number 12, B&N Bank, having toppled in September; and with Jugra Bank having gotten its banking licence revoked in July for having falsified its accounts.
Is The Fed Finishing 2017 On A Dovish Note? (Tim Duy)
Relative to the 2018 economic forecast changes, the projected path of policy is dovish. This can be explained by the surprising inflation weakness over the past year. Policymakers now believe a return to full employment requires an extended period of activity in excess of that consistent with full employment.
Mistress sues married hedge-funder over STD and lies (NYP)
A married hedge-funder wooed his beauty-pageant mistress with the promise of an ostrich farm in Uganda — only to gift her with an STD, a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit says. Former Miss Germany International Aline Marie Massel, 31, revealed the alleged seamy details of her two-year illicit relationship with Autonomy Capital CEO Robert Charles Gibbins in new court documents.