The Wall Street Job Report

In Observance of Memorial Day

The staff at the Wall Street Job Report would like to honor those who serve and have served our country.  We will be not posting any articles in observance of this day. We are thankful for our repeat readers, the ones that comment and everyone who is visiting the site for the first time.  We will be back on Tuesday with continuing coverage of all things compliance, regulation, audit and more.

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HSBC's Chairman Green Will Stay at Least Until 2011

Stephen Green (above)

Jon Menon and Andrew MacAskill, Bloomberg, May 28, 2010

HSBC Holdings Plc Chairman Stephen Green pledged to remain in his job at least until 2011, following reports he would step down this year.

“I would have preferred not to say anything, because actually we have nothing to announce,” Green told shareholders during the bank’s annual general meeting in London today. “I look forward to chairing the next AGM in 2011.”

Green, 61, succeeded John Bond as executive chairman of the bank in 2006 after a three year period as chief executive officer. He handed control of the bank’s strategy to CEO Michael Geoghegan,who moved to Hong Kong from London in February, to focus on the bank’s expansion in China.

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Morgan Stanley Hires Advisers From UBS, Barclays

Reuters, The New York Times, May 27, 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley Smith Barney hired a pair of top financial advisers from UBS, and also added advisers from Barclays Wealth to focus on Latin American markets.

Shannon Brightman and Steve Peet joined the company's Park Avenue, New York City office last Friday. Peet spent a decade at UBS, while Brightman spent four years at the company, according to FINRA filings.

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Wall Street's Biggest Firms Are Aggressively Recruiting MBA Students

Jon Jacobs, eFinancialcareers.com, May 6, 2010

Wall Street job prospects for students at leading MBA schools have rebounded strongly and bulge-bracket banks are aggressively hiring permanent associates and summer interns, a training firm's survey indicates.

Sixty percent of second-year MBA students in the survey have at least one full-time job offer, 76 percent of first-year students have a summer internship offer, and 80 percent are optimistic about their employment prospects after graudation. Training The Street, which provides courses in financial modeling and corporate valuation to junior-level staff at more than 50 banks and other businesses, polled students in the top 25 MBA programs.

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UPDATE 1-Treasury appoints former Citi exec to Ally board

Helen Kearney, Reuters, May 26, 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury has appointed Majorie Magner, a former Citigroup executive, to the board of Ally Financial Inc (GKM.N), the automotive finance company formerly known as GMAC Financial Services.

STOCKS  |  GLOBAL MARKETS

The U.S. Treasury owns a 56.3 percent stake in Ally under its Automotive Industry Financing Program. Under the program, the Treasury has the right to appoint two directors to the company's board. It said it will announce its second appointment soon.

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LECG Announces New Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel

MarketWatch.com, May 26, 2010

Headquarter Move Consolidates Corporate Management Team in Suburban Philadelphia Location

EMERYVILLE, CA (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- LECG Corporation (XPRT 3.22, -0.02, -0.62%), a global business advisory and professional services firm, today announced that in conjunction with the move of its headquarters from Emeryville, California to suburban Philadelphia, Steve Fife, LECG's Chief Financial Officer, and Deanne Tully, LECG's General Counsel, will step down from their roles this summer. Mr. Fife will remain CFO until August 15, 2010 in order to facilitate an orderly transition to Warren D. Barratt, whom the firm has appointed as its new Chief Financial Officer. Deanne Tully will continue as General Counsel until June 30, 2010, when Yuri Rozenfeld will replace her.

Mr. Fife joined the company in 2007, as Chief Financial Officer, during which time he oversaw the firm's transition to a new CEO and the successful completion of the merger with SMART, as well as a multi-year restructuring and the implementation of many operational functions and financial systems.

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Treasury Names Director to Ally Financial

The New York Times, May 26, 2010

The Treasury Department said on Wednesday that it has appointed Marjorie Magner, a former Citigroup executive, as one of its two representatives on the board of Ally Financial, the bank formerly known as GMAC Financial Services.

Treasury gained the right to appoint two directors as part of its multibillion-dollar bailout of Ally, which made the federal government the lender’s largest shareholder with a 56.3 percent stake.

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Consumers Skeptical Of Congress on Regulation

Reuters, The New York Times, May 26, 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Small investors angry with Wall Street about their battered portfolios see little relief coming from the U.S. Congress as it attempts the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s.

After the financial crisis wiped out much of the retirement savings of many Americans and left thousands of mortgages under water, consumers largely are mistrustful and skeptical about their would-be saviors on Capitol Hill.

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Spotlight on Goldman Making Wealth Unit Uneasy

Reuters, The New York Times, May 26, 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The public spotlight on Goldman Sachs is making things uncomfortable for the secretive bank's wealth managers and may crack open the door for rivals looking to lure business away.

The bank with the Midas touch has seen its reputation tarnished after regulators accused it of fraud in connection with the design and marketing of a subprime mortgage security in which investors lost about $1 billion. Lawmakers questioned its business practices and portrayed Goldman as a firm that favors its own interests over those of its clients.

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Banks Trim Debt, Obscuring Risks

Deutsche Bank (above)

Michael Rapoport and Tom McGinty, The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2010

Three big banks—Bank of America Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc.—are among the most active at temporarily shedding debt just before reporting their finances to the public, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows.

The practice, known as end-of-quarter "window dressing" on Wall Street, suggests that the banks are carrying more risk most of the time than their investors or customers can easily see. This activity has accelerated since 2008, when the financial crisis brought actions like these under greater scrutiny, according to the analysis.

The Journal reported last month that 18 large banks, as a group, had routinely reduced their short-term borrowings in this way. The new analysis looks at individual banks.

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In London, Banks Begin to Hire Again

London (above)

The New York Times, May 25, 2010

Less than a year after reporting giant losses and cutting thousands of jobs, many banks in London’s financial center are hiring again.

And the search for talent means compensation is rising — despite government efforts to control it, The New York Times’s Julia Werdigier reports.

The curbs on bonuses enacted in the wake of the financial crisis resulted in base salaries doubling last year for many senior bankers. But in London at least, bonuses have started to rise again, though they remain below their 2007 peak. And some hiring incentives from the boom years — like multi-year bonus guarantees — are returning in altered forms, such as “gentlemen’s agreements” or stock options.

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SocGen CEO Defends Role, Promises 2010 "Rebound"

Frederic Oudea (above)

Reuters, The New York Times, May 25, 2010

PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale Chief Executive Frederic Oudea defended his role at an annual shareholder meeting Tuesday evening and promised a "rebound" in 2010 as concerns persisted over the French bank's prospects.

Societe Generale's shares closed down 6.3 percent in a sector-wide hammering that saw pan-European markets drop to their lowest close since early September 2009.

Investor sentiment in banks is crumbling as nations tussle with their debt load and contemplate tighter regulation of the once-proud banking sector, though Oudea kept a confident tone.

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Three Morgan Keegan Equity Analysts Among Wall Street Journal's Best on the Street

Eric Bran, MarketWatch.com, May 25, 2010

MEMPHIS, Tenn., (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Three Morgan Keegan & Co. equity research analysts were named among the nation's best in the Wall Street Journal's 2009 Best on the Street survey, published in today's Wall Street Journal. Paul Bonenfant ranked third in the telecommunications equipment category, Harsh Kumar ranked third in the semiconductors category, and Destin Tompkins, CFA, ranked fourth in the restaurants category. Morgan Keegan's analysts have been ranked among the industry's best in 16 of the 18 years that The Wall Street Journal has published the survey.

"We are very pleased that Paul, Harsh and Destin have been recognized by the Wall Street Journal for their stock picking abilities," said Elkan Scheidt, Director of Equity Research at Morgan Keegan. "This kind of recognition further exemplifies the daily dedication and expertise our entire research department brings to our clients."

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Top Wall Street Compensation Down Amid Public's Outrage

John Stumpf (above)

Nikolaj Gammeltoft, Bloomberg, May 26, 2010

Wells Fargo & Co.’s board of directors had a busy final week of 2009. On Dec. 23, the San Francisco-based lender returned to the Treasury the $25 billion it had borrowed under the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. That freed the bank from the Treasury’s rules on executive pay.

The next day, the board made John Stumpf the best-paid chief executive officer of the 50 biggest financial companies by awarding him shares of Wells Fargo stock valued at about $10 million.

Stumpf, 56, earned his No. 1 ranking in Bloomberg Markets’ Finance 50 by receiving $21.3 million in salary and stock in 2009, more than doubling his 2008 compensation, Bloomberg Markets reports in its July issue.

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Moelis & Company Outgrowing Its Boutique Status

Ken Moelis, CEO of Moelis & Company (above)

Jeffrey Goldfarb and Neil Unmack, The New York Times, May 24, 2010

Ken Moelis’s boutique is bulging. In just three years, his corporate finance advisory firm has swelled to 325 people, and counting. Such growth suggests Moelis & Company has the revenue and backers it needs for now. But with all the equity Mr. Moelis, a former UBSbanker, is doling out, the pressure to go public will build before long. The company started in mid-2007 with some good timing. The upheaval in the financial sector provided an opportunity to secure cheap rents, hire displaced and disillusioned bankers, and snatch clients wanting advice at a distance from Wall Street.

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