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Remain calm! All is well!
Posted by Fired Fred on October 12, 2007 2:54 PM
Banks are one of the most corrupt businesses that exist. They play favorites with rich customers, shaft the poor ones with all kind of fees, and get to do pretty much what they want thanks to the fat checks they write to Congress.
They have their bad points too, I'm sure. Like lying to the public about their portfolios...
Months before Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) preannounced a third-quarter loss and a writedown of $5 billion last week, it had been assuring investors and the press that its portfolios of mortgages and asset-backed securities were well-hedged and profitable.Um, could it be because they're lying bastards trying to hang on to their jobs?
Investors are now questioning why Merrill would dissemble if the truth was going to come out weeks later.
That didn't work for quite a few people...
Merrill Lynch Chief Executive Stanley O'Neal last week fired global fixed-income chief Osman Semerci and his North American lieutenant, Dale Lattanzio.If you take $5 billion out of investors' pockets, that's a writeoff. If you take $100, that's at least a misdemeanor. Set your sights high, peeps, cuz if you're on top of the banking world, you can commit legalized theft for at least a little while.
Citigroup on Thursday fired its capital markets and trading head, Tom Maheras, in the wake of announcing an upcoming $5.9 billion writedown that took the markets by surprise. The bank also dumped one of his top lieutenants.
UBS is the only one of the big banks to have held its top executive responsible. In July, it fired Chief Executive Peter Wuffli after the collapse of a hedge fund unit, which he had helped engineer, cost the bank some $300 million.