Bear, Fidelity, Merrill, Standard Chartered, UBS, SEC
The Wall Street Journal reports that JPMorgan is to build its energy business with some of the Bear assets it acquired as a result of its soon-to-be-confirmed takeover. The newspaper quotes JPMorgan's co-head of investment banking, Bill Winters, who said: 'the energy business that Bear built up is a very nice complement to the energy business that we've been building up. They've got principal activities in power stations across the US....which is an activity that we couldn't have involved ourselves with from a regulatory perspective, but we've gotten an exemption on as part of this transaction'.
Bloomberg reports that Jonathan Zang, a former analyst and portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments, has sued the firm, claiming that he was fired after raising concerns that Fidelity had violated US federal disclosure rules. A spokesperson for the firm said that 'we continue to believe the claims made by this individual to be without merit'.
The news agency also reports that Boris Ehsani, the head of Merrill Lynch's Principal Credit group, which brought in some $461m in revenue last year, is to leave the firm after 23 years. Bloomberg says that Ehsani is to quit as Merrill CEO John Thain has cancelled plans to spin the banker's unit off as an independent hedge fund.
Reuters reports that Standard Chartered has said that it expects to buck the current trend and add around 10,000 staff to its payrolls next year, as it continues to invest in China, India and other growing markets.
The Wall Street Journal reports that UBS has confirmed that it is in a dialogue with several new candidates with banking experience with a view to bringing them onto the bank's board as current members step down.
Finally, Bloomberg reports that US regulator The Securities and Exchange Commission is to put in place a system to ensure that investment banks disclose their capital and liquidity positions 'in terms that the market can readily understand and digest'.