KEEFE TAKES ON THE BIG LEAGUE
Men can replace the wheel, the combustion engine, the propeller but" we have to have banks", said the American banking system's greatest cheerleader, Harry Keefe. "There's no replacement for money lenders and money changers. Banks were arund before Christ."
And when Harry Keefe talks about banking, people isten. No one has a bad word for the firm he helped to found, Keefe, Bruyette and Woods.
"the man the mightiest bankers fear,c was the opinion of Louis Rukeyser, when he invited Keefe on to his television show, Wall Street Week.
Keefe is quick to acknowledge that his success also rests with his partner Jean Bruyette (Norbert Woods died in 1972) and the team effort at KBW. a tall New Englander with a dry sense of humour, Keefe, 64, confounded the firm in 1962 by taking a second mortgage on his house.
Since then, the partners' $50,00 investment has grown in equity capital to $43 million, from eight employees to 142 and to an investment banking firm that not only researches, trades and sells bank stocks but also underwrites bank equity offerings and small debt deals. Institutional investors and corporate treasurers rely on its credit ratings of banks.