Payday for Boondock Bankers
New York may center of the finance universe, but those bonus dollars go a lot further if you live in a place like, say, Charlotte, North Carolina. We’ve never been there--and can’t say we have any wish to visit--but Bank of America and Wachovia each have large presences there. And both banks are cutting their bonus checks this week, even though they told executives their “number” last month (gotta milk that float!). Few are expecting New York-levels of pay but “Most people are pretty upbeat,” said one anonymous Wachovia banker. “People are happy and looking forward to another good year,” said Matt Salisbury, co-founder of Edgeview Partners, a Charlotte investment bank.
It’s Bonus Time for Banktown [Charlotte.com]
A Drop in the Late-Trading Bucket
Barely a drop in the bucket of the late-trading windfall for securities regulators, Morgan Keegan agreed to a $500,000 fine and a slap on the wrist to settle with the SEC on Wednesday. The Memphis-based firm did not admit nor deny allegations that its Dallas branch office executed about 90 trades in mutual funds after the market closed at 4 p.m. Eastern time. The SEC claimed that the trades, made over a five-month period in 2003, were done on behalf of a Houston hedge fund advisor and were limited to certain funds in two mutual fund families. Neither the hedge fund advisor nor the mutual funds were identified by name.
Morgan Keegan Agrees to Settle [MarketWatch.com]
News Flash: Goldman Employees Can Buy Lots of Things
Someone over at the New York Post must have just learned to use his calculator and is performing some whiz-bang calculations about how far the Goldman bonuses will stretch this year:
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Wall Street’s most profitable firm, paid employees an average $521,000 each last year, enough to buy 4,000 celebratory bottles of Dom Perignon champagne or seven Porsche 911 Carrera sports cars. Goldman, the No. 2 U.S. securities firm by market value, paid $11.7 billion in compensation to 22,425 employees for the fiscal year that ended in November. Average pay rose 12 percent from the 2004 average and 35 percent from the previous year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday. Chief Executive Officer Henry Paulson, 59, received $37 million in shares and stock options for 2005.
Old news, baby. In related news, lots of senior Goldman folks are leaving the firm for greener pastures.
Goldman Bonuses Are a Lot of Bubbly [NY Post]
Did Citi and B of A Help Hide Rogue Trader’s Losses
When rogue currency trader John Rusnak was finally exposed for having buried $691 million of losses between 1997 and 2002, his employer, Allied Irish Bank, started looking for places to put the blame. Allied sued the prime brokers involved--Bank of America and Citigroup--for having aided and abetted Rusnak’s deceptive book-keeping. Yesterday, Manhattan Federal Judge Deborah Batts rejected a bid by the two big banks to dismiss the lawsuit, opening up the possibility that big punitive damages could lie in the future.
Bid ti End Rogue Trader Case Fails [Reuters UK]
