Category Archives: ECM
Putting the fun back into investment banking
Something needs to happen to snap the industry out of its gradual circle of decline ‘Most of the time, I don’t have much fun. And the rest of the time, I don’t have any fun at all’. Woody Allen might … Continue reading
JP Morgan lives down to low expectations
The big beast of Wall St did not have quite as happy a start to the year as it first looks. JP Morgan has made a habit over the past few years of setting a high bar for its rivals … Continue reading
A rough guide to Wall St this year
After an even more confusing round of quarterly results from investment banks than usual, here is a rough guide to who’s up and who’s down so far this year on Wall St In an excellent recent article on how investment … Continue reading
A crisis in European investment banking?
A decent recovery in activity in the third quarter cannot disguise what is turning out to be a miserable year in investment banking – with Europe bringing up the rear. Any bankers who had hoped that the recent flurry of … Continue reading
Investment banks: cheer up, it might never happen
The third quarter could ride to the rescue of investment banks this year – but don’t get too excited The relentless headlines about job cuts and scandals at investment banks, depressed markets and economic uncertainty over the past few months … Continue reading
The problem with investment banks – part 1: revenues
The investment banking industry has a problem. In fact it has at least three of them: a revenue problem, a cost problem, and a profitability problem. In the first of a series of three articles to cheer you up after … Continue reading
A wake up call for investment banks
The league tables for the first half of this year make for depressing reading for investment banks. And it’s unlikely to get better anytime soon. You know things are bad when investment banks that you have never heard of – … Continue reading
European investment banks lose ground to their US rivals
All banks are feeling the pain, but European banks are feeling it more than most. My latest column for Financial News. When the European and US Ryder Cup golf teams tee off against each other in a few months’ time … Continue reading
Investment banking: it’s grim out there
An in-depth analysis of the performance of the top 10 investment banks is a stark reminder that things can only get better – but that for some banks, they might just get worse. It’s hard to be cheerful when your … Continue reading
The Holy Grail of the European capital markets
The financial crisis could trigger more disintermediation and the ‘financialisation’ of the European capital markets. About time too. My latest column for Financial News: Even a mushroom cloud has a silver lining. And as investment bankers pick through the wreckage … Continue reading