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From Wall Street to other countries
June 9, 2008
Lehman Brothers’ announcement this morning that it is seeking $6bn in fresh capital after making a $2.8bn loss in the second quarter shows that things remain tough on Wall Street.
To go with it, here is an anecdote about employment conditions in investment banking that you can treat with as much seriousness as you wish.
I was just talking to a friend here in New York who was about to attend two separate leaving parties for families he knew. In each case, the family was leaving New York because the father had lost his job on Wall Street.
One banker, who used to work at Bear Stearns, was moving with his family to London because it was the only place where he was offered employment. There were no offers in New York, thanks to the sudden rash of redundancies.
The other banker had been told by his employer - a global bank - that there was no job for him in New York. However, there was one in India, where he has family connections. So that is where the family is now going.
It seems that the US is not a land of opportunity for investment bankers just at the moment.
John was certainly right about investment banking not being the land of oportunity! But few would have imagined back in June that Lehamn Brothers would go to the wall Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac & AIG would all be dragged back from the brink! These are the darkest days in living memory for the world of banking.
Posted by: Cricket Bats | September 17th, 2008 at 9:32 am | Report this comment