Top Boss Accused Of Appearing To 'Nod Off' During Meetings
A UBS insider told Here Is The City, however, that: 'Jerker Johansson is a decent and professional man, who was given an impossible job. He was parachuted in a year ago on a mission to slash costs, help change the compensation structure and generally shake things up. By the very nature of things, he was going to be unpopular. This is a classic case of 'kill the messenger', and there are too many current and former firm staff only too happy to stick the knife in now that he has gone. Now the unpleasant stuff is almost complete, UBS has recognised that new leadership is required for the next stage in the evolution of the investment bank. That's all there is to it'.
In the meantime, Reuters reports that the smart money thinks that the days of both Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and his Citi counterpart, Vikram Pandit, are numbered. The news agency quotes Charles Geisst, a finance professor at Manhattan College, who said: 'I would guess both of them are gone by summer. They're caught between a rock and a hard place. They have to try to paint a rosy picture for investors, but, on the other hand, maybe what we need in the world is more forthright comments about the state of affairs at the banks, and they're not making those'.
And Bloomberg reports that Daniel Bouton, the chairman of French bank Societe Generale, has confirmed that he will step down on May 6th, as he is fed up of 'repeated personal attacks', which he feels is harmful to the bank and its employees. Bouton was CEO of the bank last year, at the time that trader Jerome Kerviel managed to lose $6.5bn in unauthorized derivatives trading.
The Evening Standard reports that former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) CEO Sir Fred Goodwin is said to have had a 'flunky' whose job it was to ensure that the cash machines at the bank's Edinburgh HQ only dispensed bank notes signed by Goodwin himself. Scottish bank notes bear the signature of whoever is the Royal Bank boss at the time of issue. The extraordinary claim, which has been denied by RBS, was made in Parliament this week by City Minister Lord Myners.
Finally, amongst all the vitriol contained in former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain's recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, is the rather sad statement that the great man now spends most of his time mooching around his home, but that he still puts on a suit most days, even though he has no office to go to.