Investment Banking

Bank CEOs channel movie mobsters in Basel fight

7 Dec 2023

New capital rules are beset by inefficiencies and inconsistencies. Yet eight US bank chiefs appearing before the Senate delivered a more populist warning: water them down, or regular Americans will be impoverished. It’s disingenuous at best; counter-productive at worst.

UAE green fund risks missing its poor-nation mark

1 Dec 2023

The COP28 climate-summit host unveiled a $30 bln vehicle featuring Brookfield, BlackRock and TPG to help cut emissions. If the firepower goes to developing countries, it will plug big financial gaps. If wealthier nations are the main recipients, it’ll be a squandered opportunity.

Everybody could use a Charlie Munger

28 Nov 2023

Warren Buffett’s deputy and self-dubbed cheerful pessimist has died a month shy of his 100th birthday. He was witty, smart and a fixture at Omaha gatherings. But his chief asset, as a sounding board to the one who got fame and fortune, was also his boss’s best value investment.

“Ex-Japan” title may take a final bow with Goldman

21 Nov 2023

The retirement of Japan President Masanori Mochida gives the US firm the option to follow its rivals and have his successor report into the Asia CEO. After a long lull, Japan’s markets are hot. But shape-shifting foreign banks may opt to bring the country into the regional fold.

Carlyle’s next takeover target should be itself

16 Nov 2023

Boss Harvey Schwartz lacks the small-investor firehose or balance-sheet heft of listed rivals that public investors crave. A muddled handover by the firm’s founders slowed progress. They could help now by joining with outside capital to buy the private equity giant out.

For global banks, India could soon be worth it

7 Nov 2023

CEOs have descended on Hong Kong for a summit, but investment bankers based in the city are spending time elsewhere in Asia as revenue from China shrinks. In India, IPOs are on the rise and fees are improving. Buyout firms’ behaviour suggests those trends will continue.

Morgan Stanley’s new CEO inherits rich pickings

2 Nov 2023

Ted Pick has the money and backing of predecessor James Gorman to make acquisitions that will help the $120 bln Wall Street firm service more of the global elite. While many potential targets look cheap, he can take his time. The most enticing prospects aren’t for sale yet.

Apollo deal drought is swamped with success

1 Nov 2023

The $630 bln investment firm delivered disappointing profit and underscored plans to give shareholders less dealmaking lucre. Its market value jumped 8% on the bad news. Increasingly prized fee income helps boss Marc Rowan’s empire overcome higher interest rates squeezing alpha.

Tough dealmaking conditions dull Waystar’s shine

31 Oct 2023

The healthcare technology firm is angling for a stock-market listing on the back of rapid, acquisition-fueled growth. With a sale looking difficult and heavy debt bearing down, an IPO may be its private equity backers’ best option, but a mooted $8 bln valuation looks steep.

Hedge fund battle turns mountain into molehill

27 Oct 2023

Daniel Och is backing a $720 mln sale of Sculptor, the investment firm he founded, after buyer Rithm raised its bid again. The extra $15 mln he gets seems out of proportion to his rage against earlier terms. Maybe sweating the small stuff is what makes millionaires billionaires.

Wall Street’s glum rainmakers deserve more love

26 Oct 2023

Income from dealmaking is moribund; trading revenue is lumpy. No wonder investors in firms like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs promote the relative appeal of less temperamental businesses like wealth management and credit cards. Before long, though, what’s down may be up again.

Europe’s investment-bank push is far from a shove

25 Oct 2023

Deutsche Bank has bought a $500 mln UK boutique, BNP is bulking up in markets and Santander has hired 50 Credit Suisse bankers. Yet no one is trying to go back to 2010, when the region had 48% of the debt-trading business. That’s good for US rivals, and the Europeans’ investors.

Blackstone’s business is lumpy and that’s OK

19 Oct 2023

The asset manager regularly touts its steady, rising fund fees as a cushion against the stop-start business of buying and selling assets. The problem is that choppy markets have dampened both. They’ll no doubt return – it’s just a reminder that there’s no escaping the cycle.

David Solomon’s Goldman remix is audibly off-key

17 Oct 2023

The Wall Street firm is well short of a 15% return on equity goal, even absent consumer-bank snafus and property writedowns. Its CEO gave up DJ-ing, but promises Goldman can spin a new tune focused on more stable income. It will take much more to prove that’s attainable.

Jamie Dimon makes anxiety a feature not a bug

13 Oct 2023

JPMorgan’s boss is again fretting about the future: interest rates, regulation, war. Yet his bank’s latest results confirm it’s doing just fine. Income is growing faster, and expenses slower, than expected. Dimon can afford to spread the dread; most rivals don’t have the luxury.

Microsoft becomes unwitting fiscal honeypot

12 Oct 2023

A $29 bln back-tax bill amounts to 40% of the tech firm’s yearly earnings. It’s also enough to fund a new round of Ukraine aid, two years of tax collection or a decade of substance abuse treatment. Uncle Sam may lose the fight, but when budgets are tight there’s more to play for.

KKR and Carlyle play zero-sum game in credit

11 Oct 2023

The two investing giants are foregoing any cut of profit for their latest European debt funds, further eroding the 2-and-20 standard. Amid a potential industry shakeout, it’s a sensible way to keep management fees flowing, which are more highly prized by public shareholders.

CFPB opponents gamble with US financial stability

3 Oct 2023

The 12-year-old consumer finance watchdog has amassed powerful enemies, partly because of combative boss Rohit Chopra. But a Supreme Court challenge to its funding threatens other regulators like the Fed too. Making crisis-fighting departments beg Congress for cash is dangerous.

Jeffrey Epstein leaves small mark on Wall Street

27 Sep 2023

JPMorgan will fork out another $75 mln to settle claims over its ex-client, winding down the sordid mess for financiers. The sex offender cost two industry CEOs their jobs, while banks now monitor such reputational risks more closely. The effects are likely to fade soon, however.

Capital Calls: UBS Russia risk

27 Sep 2023

Concise views on global finance: The Swiss bank’s value fell by $3 bln after Bloomberg reported that the US Department of Justice is investigating the recent acquisition of Credit Suisse over possible compliance failures.