| Adebayo Ogunlesi | ||||||
Let's hope John Mack is not too downhearted at his failure to lure his old friend Walid Chammah away from Morgan Stanley. It would appear to be the first setback the chief executive of CSFB has had since replacing Allen Wheat last July.
Instead, he should be looking at it as marking a refreshing change in the fortunes of the investment bank: usually it's CSFB's executives who have to spend days convincing bankers not to leave, accompanied by the liberal use of the company cheque book. Last year Wheat spent $300 million securing the loyalty of 40 members of his US bond group who had resigned to join Barclays Capital.
Those days appear to be gone, replaced by a new sense of loyalty. Of course, a severe economic downturn helps, as does the knowledge that Mack won't stand for any monkey business.