Pay | Funds Hub

Dec 21, 2010 03:06 EST

Cecilia Valente

Morning Line-Up: Bankers’ pay, Sherborne/F&C , private equity

News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere:

Bankers’ pay structure overhaul – FT

Sherborne top F&C stakeholder – Daily Telegraph

Private equity firms gather billions from investors – Reuters

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Sep 13, 2010 08:10 EDT

Joel Dimmock

Unstable, greedy, selfish….

barry olliff | bonuses | city of london investment | Funds | pay

Not the words ringing in my ears as I leave for work every morning, but City of London Investment CEO Barry Olliff’s take on the UK financial sector.

Olliff is taking his company from AIM and onto the main market next month and the new governance guidelines which will apply to the firm as a result have sparked a frank assessment. Take it away, Barry:

“From my experience of the City, when I consider remuneration and remuneration packages, I’m taken in the direction of instability, greed and selfishness…”

“…the City is made up of many selfish people who are encouraged by management, and management’s approach to remuneration, to develop egotistical tendencies. This culture of greed, in my opinion, manifests itself often via a lack of risk awareness, poor team spirit and significant key man risk…”

“…we are not looking for freedom fighters. Rather we would say it is better to appoint decent people, who can genuinely work in a team environment, than appoint just no1′s. We often say, better to appoint a good no2 who is a decent person than a no1 who is greedy, political and does not consider the maintenance and development of the brand…”

Oof… and there’s more. Olliff is clearly not convinced by the fashion for deferred bonuses, designed in theory to protect clients from short-termist bankers and asset managers.

“Is this really the way to go? Why not pay someone on time for their work. Or, is this meant to delay their departure, a sort of enforced loyalty? Or is it that there is insecurity regarding the profits that the individual has created? If this is so then surely the focus should be on the quantum, measurement and the quality of the corporation’s earnings.”

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Jun 1, 2010 05:27 EDT

Cecilia Valente

Morning line-up: Buffett quizzed, King’s pay, FSA powers

News and views on the fund industry from Reuters and elsewhere:

Chancellor to strip FSA of regulatory powers – Guardian

BOE’s chief refuses pay rise - Reuters

Buffett quizzed on credit agencies - Reuters

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Dec 17, 2009 03:07 EST

Laurence Fletcher

Myners’ let-off for hedge fund pay

There’s been plenty of confusion over who exactly will be hit by the ‘supertax’ on banker bonuses.

The wording of the Treasury’s clampdown last week suggested some hedge funds and traditional asset managers could be caught — PwC’s John Terry told me that of the 20 hedge funds he had spoken to, around half may have been caught in the net.

However, hedge funds are to fall outside the supertax, confirming a rumour doing the rounds among hedge fund executives.

Speaking at Reuters’ London offices this morning, City minister Paul Myners clarified that the tax would be focused on “the activities of banking”.

This is of course a relief to managers. Many hedge funds are still below their high-water marks, but 2009 has nevertheless been a far, far better year than 2008 for hedge fund managers and is likely to be reflected in pay packets. (Crispin Odey has already pocketed a reported 30.4 mln stg after some shrewd calls on the market and the banking sector).

And today we speculate on whether this will cause an exodus from banks to hedge funds.

* We wonder if Paul Myners himself may fancy posting a comment on Hedge Hub? This morning he told the audience at Reuters’ offices: “My office complains I spend too much time looking at blogs. But very interesting things are happening on online commentaries.” We wait with bated breath…

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Nov 16, 2009 03:01 EST

Joel Dimmock