Commentaries
Now raising intellectual capital
from Rolfe Winkler:
Lunchtime Links 1-15
Consumer protection agency in doubt (Paletta, WSJ) Chris Dodd appears willing to trade the CFPA in exchange for Republican support of his financial reform bill.
Manhattan apt rents drop 9.4% in Q4 (Gittelsohn, Bloomberg) Great stimulus for the NY economy.
Volcker calls for support in fighting bank lobby on reforms (Harper, Bloomberg) Looking to get a copy of this speech to post later today.
Can online comments affect your credit? Yup. (Sandberg, SF Chronicle) More an oddity than a trend, but interesting nonetheless.
from Rolfe Winkler:
Lunchtime Links 12-11
Jamie gets a deal! (Bloomberg) Prof. Linus Wilson had been estimated that warrants the government got as part of its TARP bailout for JP Morgan were worth $11-$37. They ended up selling for $10.75. The lower price is most likely because these are not common securities, are illiquid, and therefore worth less than we all thought. Can't really complain. The market spoke. Dimon looks smart for refusing to negotiate bilaterally with Treasury to repurchase them. Treasury was driving too hard a bargain. IIn retrospect, that means the deals on TARP warrants for the likes of AmEx and Goldman ended up going off much better for taxpayers. But Hank Paulson still did far worse negotiating with banks for emergency capital than Warren Buffett. Shame.
Ginnie Mae's growth puts taxpayers on the hook (Grow/Goldfarb, WaPo...via Patrick) Ginnie packages FHA mortgages into mortgage-backed securities. It's the next Fannie/Freddie....
JP Morgan sure to point out it’s giving back to the community
JP Morgan’s PR machine was sure to give a shout out to loan modifications as a counter to the embarrassing amount of riches reported in their third quarter report. The press release of course leads with its eye popping net income of $3.6 billion in the quarter. But before the bank details all the glorious gains in investment banking fees and fixed income, Jamie Dimon takes a moment to say how much the bank is doing for the community.
We recently announced the decision to revamp our overdraft policies to make it easier for customers to have more control over the fees they pay. In addition, our Card Services business has developed new innovative products that enhance the way customers manage their spending and borrowing. We are also aiding communities by working with struggling mortgage customers to modify their loans. We have approved more than 262,000 new trial modifications under the U.S. Making Home Affordable Program and our own modification program, nearly 90% of which include a reduction in payments for the homeowner. Since 2007, we have helped families by initiating 782,000 actions to prevent foreclosure, and we are committed to doing our part to support economic recovery going forward.”
Cazenove’s yield may muddy JP Morgan deal
As your friendly neighbourhood investment bank rarely tells you, something like 80 percent of deals don’t pay off. So why do one if you don’t have to?
That is the question facing the mighty City of London firm of Cazenove. Five years after Caz poured its investment banking business into a joint venture with the U.S. bank, JP Morgan <JPM.N>, it has to decide whether to go the whole hog and sell the remainder — or to hang on.
Morgan Stanley keeps Goldman from top M&A slot
Despite top billing for M&A involving European companies as well as Asia-Pacific and Japanese corporates, Goldman is not top of the league tables for global M&A for the year to date.
Instead it is long-time rival Morgan Stanley leading the pack, capitalising on a sizeable advantage in deals involving U.S. companies. Goldman is in second place in the worldwide ranking and JP Morgan third.
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The Wall
