It seems that Barclays will not be paying atrocious bonuses after all. Despite a pressing need to cut costs at the British bank, it was reported yesterday that Barclays will increase its overall bonus pool from £1.85bn in 2012 to to £2.4bn in 2013. Much of this increase may go to Barclays’ investment bankers: BBC business editor Robert Peston says Barclays’ board has been fretting about a rush of defections to higher paying US investment banks and will therefore be maintaining pay for many and increasing pay for some at the entity formerly known as Barclays Capital.
Separately, Institutional Investor offers an interesting perspective on what it really takes to get into Goldman Sachs. The paper interviewed Gilberto Pozzi, Goldman’s European head of M&A. A Bocconi graduate, Pozzi applied for over 70 internships whilst at university and finally landed one on the credit and derivatives at Credit Suisse in Paris. This being a French internship, Pozzi spent four years at CS before deciding to leave and study an MBA in an attempt to move into IBD. He chose Wharton and from there went to Goldman.
However, even the Wharton name on his CV didn’t mean Pozzi was a shoe-in. Goldman rejected his initial application. “They wrote and told me I didn’t have the right skills, but I lobbied them until they gave me an interview,” said Pozzi. It may have helped that Pozzi fit Goldman’s preferred profile: he didn’t come from a wealth family and was hungry to make money. “My parents came from a modest background, so it was clear I would need to find a real job,” Pozzi declared.
Meanwhile:
Having dismissed people in FX scandal, Barclays appoints junior trader as head of FX desk. (Financial Times)
Credit Suisse expects a CFH522m restructuring and IT charge last year to be repeated each year until 2015 before declining. (WSJ)
Hedge funds with less than £1bn in assets under management can people however the hell they want, says regulator. (Hedge-compliance)
Why bankers love Birmingham. (Tally)
An interactive guide to the capital markets, by Goldman Sachs. (NYTimes)
Cheeky Goldman banker woos naïve non-finance graduate. (Business Insider)
How anyone can become addicted to money. (INC)
Mathew Martoma, formerly a manager with SAC Capital, has been convicted of insider trading and faces up to 20 years in prison. (The Times)
Former finance types set up successful cleaning business. (Evening Standard)