It is not even a year since the passing of Lehman Brothers (RIP) and already banker worship has made an unwelcome return.
The Sunday Times, for one, devoted an editorial and pages four and five to Barclays and how a certain Bob Diamond took it into the top league of investment banking.
Some selected highlights, emphasis ours:
How Bob Diamond took Barclays into the top league of investment banks…
A NEW PICTURE has taken pride of place on Diamond’s laptop. It is him holding the FA Cup with John Terry, captain of Chelsea. Diamond has been a season-ticket holder at the club for 11 years and in that time Terry has become a friend. But the picture says more about Diamond’s approach to sport and business.
It is all about winning. Right now Diamond is trying to claim the biggest prize of his career, to take his bank into a tier previously dominated by the likes of Citi, UBS and other fallen stars.Make it in New York and you can make it anywhere…
There is a vacuum on Wall Street, both in terms of leadership and investment banking brands. Shareholders and clients have been horribly let down by the excesses of the last boom, but they are now starting to pick the next winners — the chief executives and the banks that can deliver.
Barclays wants to be counted among this elite. Diamond and Del Missier have moved to Manhattan to raise their own and their firm’s profiles — and when you feel the momentum that is being driven out of New York, you start to believe Barclays Capital has a chance.
The new kings of Wall Street…
BOB DIAMOND cut a forlorn figure on the New York pavement one Sunday evening last September as he walked with his wife and daughter.
Diamond’s daughter knew how disappointed her father would be and had travelled from her university on the outskirts of the city to be with him. But then came an unexpected call from Bart McDade, Lehman’s chief operating officer.
That call will be etched in Diamond’s memory. The bankruptcy of Lehman is now considered to be Paulson’s biggest error — it helped to trigger a collapse in global banking and shattered confidence. For Barclays, it presented the opportunity of a generation.
Meanwhile, over at the Telegraph, Bob became “Bob the Builder of Barclays” even despite its recent dismantling. A touching quote from the en-tooled one:
“The only time my father heard me say ‘no’ was when the question was ‘Have you had enough?’” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
And dismantling was made into building just like this:
Some even argued that Mr Diamond was selling out. He stands to scoop a $26m (£16m) windfall from a staff compensation scheme if the sale goes through.
Mr Diamond strongly disagrees. For him, last week was not about dismantling but continuing to build the Barclays empire − a quest to which he has devoted his career.
Uh? Bucket please.
Related link:
Diamond Bob’s BGI jackpot – FT Alphaville