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Merrill Lynch: Four legs good, two legs bad

The professionals who left Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch last year compare it with George Orwell's Animal Farm. It's a pretty successful farm, and more human than most. But have the guys at the top pushed their teamwork ethos and those catchy slogans a little too far? Michelle Celarier reports

January 01, 1996

BANKING

Why Barings was doomed

It wasn't just the Singapore futures operation that was badly managed. The lack of controls that allowed Nick Leeson to lose $1.4 billion was symptomatic of the lousy way Barings was run throughout Asia. The culture clash between the traders of Baring Securities and the merchant bankers of Baring Brothers meant that most executives cared more about protecting their own departments than about making the group work.

March 31, 1995

CAPITAL MARKETS

Searching for greenshoots

Heavily indebted and with puny domestic savings, Africa ought to offer attractions for interested foreign equity investors. Inflows have increased but local equity markets are thin and illiquid, privatizations halting and company research scanty. Funds with an Africa label feel obliged to buy something Africa-related. Have they always chosen wisely?

Ben Edwards, May 01, 1994

BANKING

The battle plans of Hilmar Kopper

He is the man they said would always remain in the shadow of Alfred Herrhausen, but they were wrong. Hilmar Kopper, speaker of the managing board of Deutsche Bank, is on the way to becoming a giant in world banking in his own right – a name to rival Abs, Ulrich, Guth and Christians. In the first full interview he has given since becoming speaker, he speaks to Padraic Fallon.

January 03, 1994

BANKING

Which is the real Goldman Sachs?

Goldman Sachs has risen to pre-eminence as a global securities house. It is a convincing first in Euromoney's ranking this month of the world's best investment banks. But the US firm has two faces. For its clients it is the vigilant, attentive, even enthralling provider of first-class services. For its rivals it is a mean and aggressive raptor of deals. Which picture is right?

Peter Lee, October 01, 1993

CAPITAL MARKETS

Treasury leads Warburg to anger big clients over BT3

Institutional investors say the market has been rigged in the final offering of British Telecom shares. Warburg may find its efforts to please one client – the Treasury – damage relations with everybody else.

July 01, 1993

BANKING

Is Citi back from the dead?

Citicorp suffered the latest in a series of disasters when president Richard Braddock left in unusual circumstances on the eve of a crucial capitalraising exercise. Its tendency to stumble into trouble has obscured chairman John Reed's success in reviving a bank that teetered on the brink of extinction. But ahead lies the big task of changing Citi's anarchic, competitive culture, with its hunger for revenue rather than profit.

Peter Lee, December 01, 1992

CAPITAL MARKETS

Back to the brink

In July, debt restructuring committee chairman Bill Rhodes described the signing of agreement in principle on a Brazilian Brady plan as the end of the Latin American debt crisis – a month later US bank stocks dipped 1% in a day's trading on fears that the plan would collapse. Brazilian debt prices crashed as the political upheaval in the country deepened. But against the odds, the commercial banks have pushed ahead with the plan.

September 01, 1992

BANKING

Chemical's new formula

The merger between Manufacturers Hanover and Chemical defied conventional wisdom.

Peter Lee, August 01, 1992

BANKING

A way out of the wilderness: the Castro interview

Last month, Fidel Castro, president of Cuba since 1959, gave an exclusive interview to Euromoney editor Garry Evans – his first interview with the western press in years. The old dog is having to learn new tricks. While he makes it clear he is not about to allow democracy or convert Cuba to capitalism, he is gung-ho about encouraging foreign investment. But, with the Cuban economy going into a tailspin, he admits he has little choice.

July 01, 1992

CAPITAL MARKETS

The great trek back to market

Want to invest in repackaged loans for low-cost black housing? Or the City of Johannesburg? South African telecommunications? The lifting of sanctions on South Africa could unleash a pent-up demand for funds totalling $3 billion to $4 billion a year or more.

Garry Evans, August 01, 1991

CAPITAL MARKETS

The most macho game in town

In the first quarter of 1991, as European stock markets roared ahead by an average of 20%, the most profitable – and potentially the riskiest – game for equity brokers was the bought deal. Houses make up to £8 million ($13.5 million) a deal selling large chunks of equity held by one company in another. Some brokers even suggest that a new mechanism for distributing shares has come of age.

Peter Lee, May 01, 1991

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