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Bank strives for ‘complete global offering’ in M&A and ECM but market conditions hang in the balance
‘New kid on the block’ disrupts established order with lead role on Schroders takeover
Investment bank, like the group, wants to diversify outside France, and will lead with its strongest suit, real assets
The Spanish bank is building out its industry and product teams after doubling down in North America
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The star culture at many investment banks will lead to arbitrary and indiscriminate job cuts among the ranks of associates as cutbacks are made. That might help banks to meet numerical redundancy targets in the short term but will leave banks scrambling to fill managing director positions in a few years’ time — once again destroying shareholder value, argues David Rothnie.
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Thousands of investment-banking job losses are likely following the integration of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. As John Thain’s transition teams get to work, they will have to avoid the mistakes made by Merrill in the past — firing too many staff in the downturn, then hiring too many “mediocre” bankers during the following boom. Merrill’s global financial institutions group, shaped by Greg Fleming and Andrea Orcel, is the right template for Thain to use across the rest of the merged investment bank.
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Do you want to work for a firm that is free to pay you on the basis of the business you generate and not on the dictat of government bureaucrats? A firm that has not been hamstrung by a broken business model? A firm whose clients respect the independence of your advice? And a firm small enough not to worry about anxious regulators crawling over your business? Boutique investment banking is back, says David Rothnie, though like the rest of the industry, it too faces tough challenges.
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When ABN Amro’s shareholders voted in favour of the RBS consortium’s takeover bid last October, one adviser to the Dutch bank dubbed it the "AOL Time Warner" of the financial services sector, in reference to the ill-timed $164bn media merger struck at the height of the dotcom boom in 2000.
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The last weeks’ negotiations between the UK banks and their government have thrown up a tangle of conflicts of firms and personnel, allowing the banks involved plenty of opportunity to gripe and grumble that others have had fairer treatment, says David Rothnie.
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When Barclays Capital snatched Lehman Brothers’ US operations it looked favourite to pick up the pieces of the bankrupt businesses in Europe and Asia, too, before being trumped by Nomura. Lehman insiders say that BarCap never considered that Nomura would call their bluff and show the winning hand, writes David Rothnie.