LONDON (Reuters) – Veteran Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) dealmaker Yoel Zaoui is set to retire, the latest in a series of high profile departures from investment banks shaking up top management in the wake of the financial crisis.

Zaoui, a Moroccon-born Frenchman, had been with the company for 24 years and would now become senior director – an honorary title – according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters. The bank confirmed the contents of the memo.

LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs ‘s co-head
of global mergers and acquisitions Yoel Zaoui, a veteran
dealmaker, is set to retire from the firm, the latest in a
series of high profile bankers to leave their long-time
employers.

Zaoui, a one-time head of European investment banking who
had been at Goldman for 24 years, will now become a senior
director, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters.

LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) – The world’s stock exchanges are
trying to rein in some of the most controversial activities of
high-speed trading firms, among their most valued clients, to
help head off tough sanctions from regulators.

The London Stock Exchange Group, Deutsche Boerse
and Nasdaq OMX have all recently announced
fines to cut out speculative trading in high volumes that some
of the speed traders engage in.

LONDON/BRUSSELS, March 28 (Reuters) – Belgium’s Dexia
is hoping that rival suitors for Denizbank
will return after it failed to get a higher price from Qatar
National Bank for its Turkish unit, people familiar
with the matter said.

The Qatari bank, whose chairman is also the country’s
finance minister, was the only party left bidding for Denizbank,
as crippled Dexia dismantles itself after a state bail-out at
the height of the euro zone debt crisis last year.

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) – Investment banks fighting for
survival in a world of stricter regulation and more expensive
funding are embroiled in a price war as they battle to hang on
to clients.

Some are offering ultra-low prices across a range of their
most prominent activities such as equity and debt sales, advice
on mergers and acquisition (M&A), and more arcane – but widely
used – derivative instruments.

LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) – Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial Group (8306.T: Quote, Profile, Research) (MUFG) eyes a big hike in overseas
revenue, hiring staff in its European investment bank and
lending more to foreign customers as rivals retreat, a top
executive told Reuters.

The Japanese lender wants to be in the top 10 in the United
States – where it has a commercial banking network – measured by
assets and profit, said Takashi Morimura, head of the group’s
global business unit.

LONDON (Reuters) – A Goldman Sachs banker has launched a withering attack on the bank in a newspaper column announcing his resignation, saying that several managing directors at the Wall Street firm had referred to their own clients as “muppets”.

In an opinion column for Wednesday’s New York Times, Greg Smith, who worked in equity derivatives, said Goldman had become “as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it”.

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) – An arcane system at the
heart of a global investigation into whether banks colluded in
setting interest rates may endure simply because it is so deeply
embedded in trillions of dollars’ worth of financial contracts.

The London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor, is a
daily poll that asks a group of banks at what rate they think
they will be able to borrow. The rate is supposed to reflect the
level at which banks lend to one another.

LONDON, Feb 29 (Reuters) – A restructuring of Greece’s
colossal debt is widely expected to trigger insurance payouts
and investment banks and hedge funds are working out who will
be the winners and losers.

If the restructuring goes ahead as planned under the terms
of Greece’s second international bailout, it could involve
Athens forcing some bondholders to accept a much lower value.

LONDON (Reuters) – When a bankrupt Mexico stopped repaying foreign loans in 1861 after three years of civil war, Great Britain, France and Spain responded by invading the Mexican harbor of Veracruz.

Britain and Spain pulled back almost immediately on promise of future payment. France invaded, installed an Austrian as emperor, and was not driven out for another six years.