Management & Leadership

Wall Street’s word is its bond excuses

18 Apr 2018

BofA, Citi and JPMorgan booked less revenue from debt sales in the first three months. Activity was down, but banks’ talk about the impact of tax cuts and such was just a way of saying clients didn’t hire them. That left Goldman the surprise leader for a second straight quarter.

Cuba rings changes while trying to stay the same

18 Apr 2018

Raul Castro's coming handover of Cuba's presidency is an effort to prolong beyond his own life span the communist revolution he built with late brother Fidel. Trying to modernize could also destroy it, though. And with neighbor Venezuela getting less able to provide cheap oil, economic reform can't wait.

China’s new unemployment measure has big job ahead

18 Apr 2018

In the first regular monthly numbers using surveys, Beijing reported a 5.1 pct jobless rate. It's far better than relying on claims of work-seekers. The question is whether officials will trust the gauge enough to scrap GDP growth targets – and if others trust it in a downturn.

L&G’s gender revolt has revealingly low bar

17 Apr 2018

The 983 bln pound asset manager will vote against chairs at UK companies if boards have too few women. It’s a laudable move. But the 25 pct threshold looks low, and traps groups as big as Barclays or London Stock Exchange. Diversity in British boardrooms has a long way to go.

WPP breakup could deliver 25 percent upside

16 Apr 2018

The UK group is a messy collection of advertising, branding, PR, data and media divisions, often with scant overlap. After the exit of long-term boss Martin Sorrell, selling a few businesses might enable Chairman Roberto Quarta to recover some value for patient shareholders.

Sorrell’s messy exit could put WPP in play

15 Apr 2018

The ad giant’s CEO of 32 years left after a misconduct probe, but is still eligible for a bumper share award. Chairman Roberto Quarta can kick-start a turnaround by selling WPP’s market-research arm. A braver buyer could make a decent return by taking the $21 bln group private.

Wall Street banks’ next big problem is each other

12 Apr 2018

Tax cuts have already boosted lenders’ bottom lines. Now interest rates, regulatory rollback and volatility are working in their favor. That ought to spell even better results than JPMorgan just reported – unless, that is, the exuberance sparks price wars and excesses.

VW changes boss to better effect than Deutsche

13 Apr 2018

Both companies replaced their boss mid-term. The automaker also unveiled management changes to help reduce costs and is preparing its trucks business for a potential listing. Volkswagen’s messy governance endures, but unlike Deutsche, its strategy has a better chance of success.

LSE finds a friend at Goldman to end CEO drama

13 Apr 2018

The stock exchange operator hired U.S. investment banker David Schwimmer as its new chief. He brings deep knowledge of dealmaking and financial market plumbing. Brexit uncertainty and last year’s boardroom fight do not appear to have dented the LSE’s allure for executive talent.

Retiring Macau mogul had first-mover disadvantage

13 Apr 2018

Stanley Ho is stepping down at 96. The casino boss enjoyed a decades-long head start in what is now the world’s top gambling hub. But his $5 bln SJM quickly lost ground to Wynn, Galaxy and others. When competition arrives, former monopolists can struggle to master a new game.

Samsung share sale heralds a humbler chaebol

12 Apr 2018

A unit of the South Korean conglomerate sold a $500 mln stake in an affiliate to comply with new rules. More deals like this could loosen heir Jay Y. Lee's grip on the Samsung group. Investors in the $300 bln Samsung Electronics can hope for better governance as a result.

CBS boardroom drama could use a refreshed cast

11 Apr 2018

Controlling shareholder Shari Redstone may want a merger with Viacom even without CBS boss Les Moonves. Getting rid of him would require new thinking on the board. A revamp is overdue anyway: two-thirds of directors are over 70 and diversity is only slowly getting past M*A*S*H.

HSBC donates top banker to China’s soft power push

11 Apr 2018

The bank created a new role sure to please Beijing: Head of Belt and Road Initiative. The job will be to coordinate efforts serving the $1 trln overseas infrastructure plan. The nomenclature will burnish HSBC's cred in China. And it may catch on with the rest of Wall Street.

New VW boss would only part-solve its problems

10 Apr 2018

The German carmaker may replace CEO Matthias Mueller after just two-and-a-half years. Probable successor Herbert Diess brings a welcome outside perspective having only joined 2015. His difficulty will be getting the conservative board’s approval for radical moves like spinoffs.

CEO exit signals new era for star Indian banks

10 Apr 2018

The boss of Axis Bank is unexpectedly on the way out after almost ten years running the $20 bln private-sector lender. The boss of rival ICICI could follow. This heralds an era of tougher oversight from the central bank, which could put some of these institutions in play.

Xi throws the trade ball back into Trump’s court

10 Apr 2018

China’s president pledged imminent market openings at a speech on Tuesday. He re-hashed plenty of old promises but dangled new items on autos and intellectual property. The opening offer is unlikely to appease U.S. hardliners, but it creates precious space for more negotiation.

Facebook not Zuckerberg is under fire in D.C.

9 Apr 2018

It will be tempting for U.S. lawmakers grilling Mark Zuckerberg to focus on his all-too-apparent flaws. That would miss the bigger question: whether Facebook is too complex to manage, whoever runs it. That is key to knowing whether the company ought to be regulated.

Wall Street gets its money-mining canary back

9 Apr 2018

Jefferies’ owner, the $8 bln Leucadia, will offload non-financial units, take its traditionally trading-heavy investment bank’s name, and move to a November year-end. The industry will again have an early-warning stock – and long-time boss Richard Handler’s task will be clearer.

New Deutsche Bank CEO fails to fill strategic void

8 Apr 2018

The struggling German lender picked retail bank chief Christian Sewing to replace John Cryan. Investment bank co-head Marcus Schenck will also depart. The reshuffle suggests a further retreat from global trading. But Deutsche’s domestic unit is a poor base from which to rebuild.

Wanted: candidates for Europe’s toughest bank job

6 Apr 2018

Deutsche Bank Chairman Paul Achleitner is seeking to replace CEO John Cryan. The lender needs someone who can motivate traders while slashing costs, and take on Wall Street without neglecting Germany. Breakingviews imagines the pitch headhunters have sent to potential candidates.