- Barclays’ Diamond Criticizes Bonus Tax, Sees Regulator Missteps
- Feinberg Said to Lift $500,000 Salary Limit for AIG Executives
- Morgan Stanley Shuffles Executive Suite
- SEC probing high-frequency strategies, co-location
- Banks, U.S. Spar Over TARP Repayment
- Bank of America Executive Under Scrutiny
- Dubai World Met Six Creditors Yesterday on Debt, Banker Says
- Dubai’s Debt Problems May Swell, Morgan Stanley Says
- Debt Raters Avoid Overhaul After Crisis
- Galleon Insider-Trading Case Delayed for a Month
- Galleon Probe Stymied by Lack of Follow-Up, Ex-FBI Agent Says
- TCW Said to Lose 14 Employees After Gundlach’s Ouster
- Pimco Hires Ex-TARP Chief Kashkari
- SEC accuses 3 ex-New Century execs of fraud
- Mavericks’ Cuban May Probe SEC in Legal-Fee Bid
Barclays’ Diamond Criticizes Bonus Tax, Sees Regulator Missteps – Bloomberg
Barclays Plc President Robert Diamond said plans to impose a windfall tax on bankers’ bonuses are unwarranted, and that the U.K. risks regulatory missteps that would put London at a competitive disadvantage.
“It’s very important to recognize the importance that major financial centers are balanced in terms of regulatory efforts around capital, around accounting, and around compensation,” Diamond said at a conference in Horsham, England, today organized by the Wall Street Journal. “During this period of regulatory reform we really need to make it a race to the top, not a race to the bottom.”…..
Feinberg Said to Lift $500,000 Salary Limit for AIG Executives – Bloomberg
Kenneth Feinberg, the U.S. paymaster for rescued companies, will exempt some executives at American International Group Inc. from a $500,000 salary cap after at least five employees threatened to quit because of the limits, people familiar with the matter said.
Feinberg may issue a ruling as early as next week on pay limits for 75 of the bailed-out insurer’s executives, the people said……
Morgan Stanley Shuffles Executive Suite – Wall Street Journal
Morgan Stanley is set to announce high-level management changes that are expected to include putting finance chief Colm Kelleher and veteran banker Paul Taubman in charge of the company’s largest division, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The shuffle has been planned in recent weeks by James Gorman, who will take over as Morgan Stanley’s chief executive officer Jan. 1……
SEC probing high-frequency strategies, co-location – Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will likely seek public input on so-called high-frequency trading strategies, and whether traders using them gain any special advantages by placing fast computers next to exchanges.
High-frequency trading, which accounts for some 60 percent of U.S. stock trades, involves using algorithms to buy and sell shares and earn tiny spreads on market inefficiencies. It has come under fire this year by those who claim it leads to manipulation and unstable markets, and the SEC is investigating…..
Banks, U.S. Spar Over TARP Repayment – Wall Street Journal
Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. are wrestling with the U.S. government over how much capital the banks will be required to raise to exit from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to people familiar with the situation.
The disagreements follow last week’s announcement by the Treasury Department that Bank of America Corp. won approval to repay its $45 billion in federal aid. As part of its exit strategy, the Charlotte, N.C., bank then sold $19.29 billion in stock…..
Bank of America Executive Under Scrutiny – NY Times
One of the leading candidates to take the helm at Bank of America has become embroiled in an investigation of the bank’s merger with Merrill Lynch.
The office of New York’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, has contacted several of the bank’s lawyers in the last two weeks with concerns about testimony given last month by Greg Curl, the bank’s chief risk officer…..
Dubai World Met Six Creditors Yesterday on Debt, Banker Says – Bloomberg
Dubai World, the state-owned holding company which is seeking to reschedule $26 billion of debt, held talks with its six main creditors yesterday, a banker familiar with the negotiations said.
The banks were Emirates NBD PJSC, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc., said the banker, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. More such meetings are likely, he said……
Dubai’s Debt Problems May Swell, Morgan Stanley Says - Bloomberg
Debt restructuring by Dubai state-run companies may almost double to $46.7 billion as more of the emirate’s businesses could need help making payments, Morgan Stanley said.
Dubai Holding LLC, Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group LLC, Borse Dubai Ltd. and Dubai Sukuk Center Ltd. may join Dubai World in restructuring debt, Morgan Stanley analysts Mohamed W. Jaber and Paolo Batori wrote in a report. Government- controlled Dubai World said last week that it’s in talks to renegotiate $26 billion of loans….
Debt Raters Avoid Overhaul After Crisis – NY Times
When the financial crisis began, few players on Wall Street looked more ripe for reform than the Big Three credit rating agencies….
So as Washington rewrites the rules of Wall Street, how is the overhaul of the Big Three coming? It isn’t, finance experts say.
“What you see in these bills are Botox shots,” says Joseph A. Grundfest, a professor of securities law at Stanford Law School. “For a little while, everyone is going to be frozen into a grin, and then the shots are going to wear off.”……
TCW Said to Lose 14 Employees After Gundlach’s Ouster – Bloomberg
At least 14 professionals left TCW Group Inc. after the dismissal last week of Jeffrey Gundlach, the chief investment officer of the Los Angeles-based money manager, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Phil Barach, co-manager with Gundlach of the $11.9 billion Total Return Bond Fund, and Louis Lucido, a managing director at the firm, quit over the weekend. Others who have left include managing directors Vincent Fiorillo, Joel Damiani and Joseph Galligan. All five executives confirmed their resignations when contacted by phone…..
Galleon Insider-Trading Case Delayed for a Month – Bloomberg
A judge gave the U.S. government more time before asking a grand jury to indict seven people in a criminal investigation of insider trading related to the Galleon Group hedge fund.
Prosecutors in New York had until today to return a grand jury indictment against Craig Drimal, who worked at Manhattan- based Galleon. The deadline is now in January, according to documents filed today in federal court in Manhattan….
Galleon Probe Stymied by Lack of Follow-Up, Ex-FBI Agent Says – Bloomberg
An insider-trading probe of Galleon Group LLC a decade ago was slow to get off the ground because of turnover among investigators and the departure of a key witness from Intel Corp., a former FBI agent said. Russ Atkinson led the probe of former Intel employee Roomy Khan’s leaks to Galleon Group in 1998. Khan’s departure from the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker hindered the FBI’s pursuit of any potential wrongdoing by Galleon, Atkinson said in a telephone interview last week.
“It’s unfortunate that no one really followed through strongly,” said Atkinson, 62, who spent 24 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation before retiring in 1999. “It would have taken a major effort.”….
Pimco Hires Ex-TARP Chief Kashkari – Wall Street Journal
Pacific Investment Management Co., said it has hired Neel Kashkari, who ran the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program until May, as a managing director and head of new investment initiatives.
Pimco also said that it hired Anne Gudefin and Charles Lahr, former co-managers of Franklin Resources Inc.’s $16 billion Franklin Mutual Global Discovery Fund. They will focus on establishing and managing global equity investment strategies based on a “deep value” approach. Mr. Lahr started work Monday, and Ms. Sudefin will begin in early January.
“Extending Pimco’s investment activities into active equities and thus across the capital structure is a logical and natural extension of the firm’s successful investment process,” said founder and co-Chief Investment Officer Bill Gross……
SEC accuses 3 ex-New Century execs of fraud – LA Times
Federal regulators today accused three former top executives of collapsed mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. of fraud, saying they misled investors as the company’s subprime loan business was failing in 2006…..
Mavericks’ Cuban May Probe SEC in Legal-Fee Bid – Bloomberg
Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, can seek documents and other information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as part of his bid to force the agency to pay his legal fees after its insider- trading lawsuit against him was tossed out, a judge ruled.
Cuban can conduct so-called discovery over the legal-fees question to see if he can support his contentions that the SEC engaged in misconduct in investigating him and lacked a good- faith basis to sue him, U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater in Dallas said in a Dec. 4 order……
Tags: AIG, Barclays, Bob Diamond, Citigroup, Dubai, Galleon, Mark Cuban, Morgan Stanley, Pay czar, Raj Rajaratnam, SEC, Sovereign wealth funds, TARP, Wells Fargo
