Great article on UBS (bad news for its IB)

lightsout — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:49:57 -0400

This is a great feature article detailing how UBS ended up in the position it is in. It also gives a great description of the timeline of the credit crisis.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a3sm9FOrsWcg&refer=h...

The article brings up the point that many activist investors are calling for a sale of the investment bank.

"Arnold and other major shareholders think UBS should concentrate on what it does best: wealth management. That unit contributed 24.9 billion francs, or 78 percent, of the bank's total operating revenue in 2007. Arnold wants Kurer and Rohner to sell the asset management unit, which offers investment funds to institutional and retail clients, and the bank's Brazilian unit, Banco UBS Pactual SA.

Asked about Arnold's suggestion, Rohner rejected the idea. ``We don't see any need to sell assets,'' he says. ``The real issue is how we work together collectively under the one-firm model.''

...

This guy is really smart

lightsout — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:07:38 -0400

Why do we even bother to work? We should all just do what this guy did.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/050108...

UBS may cut 8,000 jobs

lightsout — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:24:01 -0400

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPYNaeF4wcS8&refer=h...

UBS fell 15% due to news that it may cut 5-10% of its employees across all divisions. It may also have to sell a U.S. unit, although it denied reports Paine Webber was up for sale.

Davidson Kempner

lightsout — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:49:38 -0400

Does anyone have any information on Davidson Kempner Capital Management? I believe they manage $10-11B, but I am not positive. Does anyone know their strategy? Any info on recruiting? Any other info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bloomberg IB rankings

lightsout — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:18:37 -0500

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=aUEp0Xnwl...

These are the rankings Bloomberg came out with for 2007. It says the banks expect overall activity to drop by about 20% in 2008.

Looks like Citi is first overall. They were also the top in fixed income underwriting.

Goldman was number 1 in M&A.

Morgan Stanley was tops in Europe.

Goldman firing 5%

lightsout — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:01:47 -0500

Looks like Goldman is firing about 1500 people. Nice job market.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avuO26L_ehe4&refer=h...

Superday Reimbursement

lightsout — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:17:16 -0500

Has anyone received their reimbursements yet? How long does this usually take?

Traders & Product Control

lightsout — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:42:29 -0500

Can any of the traders elaborate on the relationship between the traders and how product control supports them. What exactly do product controllers do? How do they add value to the traders? What are the differences in hours and bonus?