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’[AV meets Naked Capitalism] Bankers and bonuses
In the first post about our meeting with Yves Smith, purveyor of the blog Naked Capitalism, we discussed the blogosphere and what prompted her to join it. Here we ask Ms Smith about her involvement with the Occupy movement and her opinions about banking and the contentious topic of bonuses.
It’s bonus season, so what’s the meaning of life?
Around exam time at university, the conversation always seemed to fluctuate between points of revision, questions that might be asked, and what the meaning of life actually is. “Exams aren’t a test of your real ability,”
The preference for unequal pay
…potential thus exists for the formation of a”vicious cycle” where increases in disparity weaken concern for wage equality or redistribution. This weakened concern affords greater future compensation differentials,
The iPay phenomenon
A British academic, Ian Tonks of Bath university, suffered a vicious TED attack this week regarding this post — a summary of Tonks’ research into links between bankers’ bonuses and the financial crisis.
The UK bonus doldrums
The UK’s Office of National Statistics published its latest bonus data on Tuesday, and as can be seen below there’s been very little change on the year when it comes to bonus payments in “financial and insurance activities”:
A risk management review of Citi, revealed
That’s an old Valentine’s day letter — sent on February 14, 2008 — from John Lyons at the Office of the Comptroller (OCC) to Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. We bring it up because it’s the subject of a new column by Bloomberg’s Jonathan Weil,
Buffering up at the Bank of England
The Bank of England can always be expected to bang on about banks’ financial health. But with the eurozone slowly imploding on its doorstep and — as the FT notes, with the global financial crisis still vivid in the memory,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Allied Irish Banks won’t make bonus payments — statement.
- BT completes sale of 5.5 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra — statement.
- Betfair on track to meet forecasts — statement.
Compare and contrast – UBS vs Deutsche Bank edition
The more one looks at Tuesday’s third quarter results from UBS the uglier they seem — and not just because its top bankers want the $1m cap on cash bonuses lifted so they can pay the mortgage and the kids school fees.
CoCos can cost – your bonus
Here’s a data point for those skeptical of CoCo capital’s saving graces.
(CoCos, or contingent convertible capital, are a kind of convertible bond that automatically switch into equity once certain capital or bailout triggers are breached.)
Earlier this week Switzerland moved to make CoCos a key element of future bank capital,
Macquarie Bank: desperately seeking swagger
That old affluent sparkle seems rapidly to be wearing off Australia’s once seemingly teflon-coated Macquarie Bank – especially after the unthinkable happened and MacBank, once dubbed the “millionaires’ factory”
Britain’s bankers are ‘still alive’ – Britain’s tabloids go nuts
Spotted in the Square Mile. Those elusive, sardonic, still-alive bankers.
Spotted elsewhere. The Sun, the Daily Star et al. combusting with rage.
What’s the right amount to pay bankers? Less.
Dan “Predictably Irrational” Ariely is promoting his new book, and as part of his promotathon, has published a teaser over at the TEDBlog.
The subject: banker pay.
Ariely’s argument will not go down well with the likes of the Johns Mack and Stumpf,
Kerviel speaks: traders, know thyselves
Roguish trader turned novelist – ‘L’Engrenage, Mémoires d’un trader’ – Jérôme Kerviel has some advice for his peers on the all-important annual review.
In an extract from his book featured on eFinancialCareers on Thursday,
[Darling: Budget Highlights 2010] Opening remarks
The banks and bashing of. Via Reuters:
DARLING – WILL SELL SHARES IN RBS, LLOYDS, NORTHERN ROCK IN WAY THAT MAXIMISES TAXPAYER VALUE
DARLING – BANK BONUS TAX HAS RAISED 2 BLN STG, MORE THAN TWICE AS
Switzerland, the former bolt-hole?
Neutral, snowy, and tax-lite – Switzerland was supposed to be the destination of choice for outraged City-types and others in the financial sector intent on protecting their bonuses.
Some excited reports even had Goldman Sachs moving its European headquarters from London to somewhere less fiscally challenged,
How much are you worth?
Is it the £500,000 your bank, or otherwise reviled-financial institution, pays you each year?
Or the negative £3.5m you contribute to society?
That’s right — negative £3.5m. A study by left-ish think tank,
Bonus backlash
A copy of the letter sent by Joanthan Keeling, chief executive of Arden Partners, to the FT:
Dear Sir,
Bank Payroll Tax
As CEO of a quoted stockbroker I am angry to find that the draft BPT legislation appears to capture our firm,
‘Alistair in Wonderland’ believes in Santa Claus, BNP Paribas says
BNP Paribas’ UK economist Alan Clarke has issued a scathing critique of Wednesday’s pre-budget report.
And we do mean scathing. Consider the following from Clarke’s note, emphasis ours:
The Pre-Budget Report was a political exercise and delivered little in the way of concrete details on how the government intends to narrow the budget deficit.
PBR preview, bankers’ bonus edition
We all know the chancellor is going to announce a bankers’ bonus tax in Wednesday’s pre-Budget report. What we don’t know are the details; Things like the level at which the tax will kick in and whether it will be levied on bonus pools or individual bonuses.
Darling lines up assault on bonuses
Alistair Darling, chancellor, is preparing a crackdown on “extraordinarily high” bankers’ bonuses when he makes his pre-Budget report on Wednesday, but is expected to reject a windfall tax on bank profits.
Banks too big to (excessively) bonus, FSA says
Take that Mervyn King!
The UK’s Financial Services Authority has just released a discussion paper — the second part of Lord Turner’s banking review — on “systemically important banks”, better known as `too big too fail.’ And while on Tuesday,
Goldman round-up
Here’s what we hope could be a helpful collection of analysts’ comments on Goldman Sachs third-quarter results.
The major takeaway is that there’s still a reasonable amount of concern about whether the bank can continue its strong performance in places like Fixed Income Currencies and Commodities.
Lehman Brothers bankers claim £70m in lost pay
Six European bankers at Lehman Brothers are claiming £70m for lost pay and bonuses from the administrators of the collapsed bank, the Telegraph reported, citing court documents. Italian banker Riccardo Banchetti,
Adventures at Mansion House
LORD TURNER KEEPS HEAT ON BANKERS WITH FURTHER ATTACK
… Scream the headlines of Wednesday morning’s papers, on the FSA chairman’s Tuesday night speech at Mansion House.
Unfortunately, given the newspaper practice of pre-writing news (in order to make their print deadlines,