Banking Bonuses May Be Capped
One London-based banker (who is now eyeing a new role in Asia) told Here Is The City: 'My employer is looking to lay me off, my government is looking to tax me out of existence (and do me out of a decent pension), and now that lot in Brussels are looking to impose draconian regulations on me. Is someone trying to tell me something ?'.
In the meantime, Bloomberg reports that Barclays CEO John Varley said in a statement Thursday: 'In the first-quarter of 2009, our financial performance was well ahead of the prior year, meaning that we've made good profits'. Chairman Marcus Agius, however, may not be so chipper, as he got it in the neck Thursday at the the bank's annual general meeting, where shareholders vented their anger over last year's Middle Eastern fund-raising, the bank's stock price and tax shelter operations.
And The Wall Street Journal reports that Morgan Stanley is mulling over spinning off its biggest prop trading operation, Process Driven Trading, into a hedge fund, or opening it up to outside investors.
Reuters reports that Standard Chartered's Whistlejacket SIV, which was declared insolvent last year, is thought likely to put on the block billions of dollars in US asset-backed securities beginning next week. Bids will need to be submitted by April 29th.
Finally, Japan's Mizuho Financial Group warned Thursday that it was likely to post a $5.9bn loss in the year to the end of March. The firm has filed to sell some $5.1bn in bonds in the coming 13 months to beef up its balance sheet.
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