That Barclays will buy a big U.S. bank is one of those standing rumors. They never seem to come true, but no one is quite willing to discount the idea altogether. As the credit crisis unfolded, many thought it might come to the table to rescue some banks. Bob Diamond, [...]

Goldman Sachs stock has taken some hits recently, as analysts grow pessimistic about third-quarter earnings. The consensus seems to be that core business is slowing down. The wild card, as always, is prop trading. It's not likely, in part because it seems that Goldman's IR folks have been talking analysts [...]

The gravestone of hedge fund SageCrest Done might read "done in by its creditor." Apparently, Deutsche Bank told its client to sell assets at a discount to pay off a $7 million credit line, reports the Financial Times. That left Chapter 11 as the only option. The Greenwich, CT fund specializes in [...]

We've noted the long-running debate about whether the accreditation requirements for hedge fund investors ought to be lowered. For many the rules strike a paternalistic note: The non-wealthy can't comprehend the risks. That has galled many over the years in part because they think most of the public is being denied [...]

We've noted that pensions aren't bailing out on hedge funds and private equity funds. In fact, they continue to embrace them. That has made life a little more of an adventure for some pension overseers. Portfolio profiles Bill Clark, who oversees a $77 billion investment portfolio for New Jersey workers. [...]

The Financial Times reports that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have developed systems that tie their lending commitments to hedge funds to the value of their own credit default swaps. As the price of CDS "insurance" grows, the amount they are willing to commit declines. Goldman Sachs already has a similar arrangement [...]

Recall that Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, portfolio managers of the two Bear Stearns hedge funds that collapsed a little over a year ago, have been charged with fraud--essentially for not disclosing the true extent of the funds' portfolios to clients. As TheDeal.com notes, a big debate has erupted over the legitimacy [...]

Data from Credit Suisse shows that the total investment banking fee pool is down nearly 30 percent this year. Where will banks make up that money? Well, prop trading is a thought, but that's a tricky proposition. Article[...]

Citigroup gets all the attention, but the universal banking model was embraced by other banks over the past decade or so, though not to the same degree. The idea of course was to create a set of integrated services that offered customers one-stop financial shopping. In so doing, another benefit would [...]

JPMorgan Chase was able to raise $1.6 billion to buttress its balance sheet, but the money did not come cheap. The preferred debt issue carries a whopping 8.7 percent interest rate. The Financial Times reports that this is the highest rate offered by the bank on preferred debt since the big merger [...]

The conventional wisdom holds that hedge funds, with a typical 2 and 20 fee structure, are more expensive that mutual funds, with a roughly 120 basis point expense ratio. But that may not be the case, notes AllAboutAlpha.com. It really comes down to how you apportion the fees within a [...]

There is a subtle undercurrent of fear on Wall Street about Alt-A loans. JPMorgan has about $19.5 billion worth of exposure to Alt-A mortgages, and it likely is not alone. I would be surprised if banks have written off much against these assets. CalculatedRISK notes that "subprime delinquencies appear to [...]

It's no secret that banks are constrained as they try to raise capital these days. Shareholders seem to have borne the brunt of these efforts, to say the least, and there's got to be a limit as to how much abuse they can take. But it looks like dividends may [...]

People are still talking about JPMorgan's disclosure in a recent 10q that it lost about $1.5 billion due to collateralized debt obligations. A MarketWatch columnist notes that the loss occurred in the month after the bank announced a $2 billion quarterly profit. Is this cause for concern? Well, as we've noted, the bank [...]

The Waverly Inn is one of the hottest NYC restaurant start ups in recent memory. Graydon Carter, the owner, tells the New York Times, he avoids "any stars of reality TV and hedge fund managers. For that reason, we screen calls from the 203 area code." He was kidding--I think. Article[...]

The New York Times offers a snap history of home equity loans, which used to be known as second mortgages, via the many memorable ads the banking industry churned out. Citigroup's "Live Richly" campaign, which cost some $1 billion from 2001 to 2006, was among the many that urged people [...]

The headlines are dominated by the woes of big banks, the likes of Citigroup and Bank of America. But the most vulnerable banks of course are the small local banks, the ones that hitched themselves to the real estate and construction boom. Fortune offers an interesting look at a small community [...]

We've been talking for years about how more financial services firms are outsourcing more knowledge-oriented work abroad. Junior level research and analysis started getting offshored a few years ago. The New York Times notes that the trickle has now become a flood. Top outsourcing firms in India are seeing a healthy [...]

KBW analysts, after meeting with the Lehman Brothers COO, are telling clients that Lehman is not likely to sell its Neuberger Berman asset management unit. The unit is just too integral to its operations and too valuable from a credit ratings agency stand point. So it looks like all that talk [...]

Citi has confirmed that it is indeed moving its stock research unit out of Smith Barney, where it was placed following the stock research scandals of yesteryear, and back into institutional clients' business. It will become part of a new research unit that will combine fixed income and economic and equities [...]

It's fair to say that the financial crisis has been unkind to a lot of value-oriented fund managers. The mindset--by on valuation dips--has proved to be a loser's strategy. Anyone buying on the likes of Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers on the way down took some big hits. Miller was [...]

Is there anyone who profited from the subprime crisis? Well, some hedge funds bet correctly of course, led by Paulson & Co. JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon and the New York Fed's Tim Geithner each saw their status rise. Goldman Sachs was able to separate itself a bit from its investment [...]

The Financial Times suggests that the purchase by the Blackstone Group of debt boutique GSO Capital Partners last year speaks volumes about the credit universe that private equity firms must navigate. When debt was cheap, they were big borrowers. Now private equity firms want to profit by being on the other side. GSO [...]

When John Paulson, of Paulson & Co., bet against mortgage-backed collateralized debt obligations, he didn't hold back. His funds shorted the ABX and longed various credit default swaps--and it paid off. His $15 billion profit in 2007 is the stuff of legends. According to Business Week Online, it ranks up there with [...]

The pressure is on for Robert Steel, the new CEO of Wachovia, who has raised the number of jobs the bank will cut. The AP reports that in a quarterly SEC filing, the bank says it expects to eliminate 11,350 positions, including 6,950 active employees and 4,400 open positions. That's about [...]