Global Banking & Capital Markets

One of the most interesting classes that I take this semester is the Global Banking and Capital Markets class with Roy C Smith, an ex-chairperson of Goldman Sachs and someone who has seen a financial crisis too many [and for no fault of his own] in his long and illustrous career.

In this class, we have talked about the various crises that have been seen in the current times. We discussed a wide variety of current issues in the financial markets, while discussing the fundamentals of capital markets and financial systems
- the downward spiralling mortgage markets
- the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddic Mac
- the unfortunate demise of Lehman Brothers
- the capital infusion in AIG
- the acquisition of Lehman Brothers' assets by Barclays PLC & Nomura
- the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America
- capital raising by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs
- the sale of WaMu to JPMorganChase
- the sale of Wachovia to Citi
- the subsequent renege and sale of Wachovia to Wells Fargo
- the downward spiral of Citi
- the fate of General Motors
- Troubled Asset Relief Program
- Federal Reserve and Ben Bernanke
- Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and his efforts
- Banking Failures in the UK
- Banking Failures in the rest of Europe
- Banking in China
- the benefits of Obama vs. McCain
- What it means to have Obama

This was one of the most informative and illustrative class that I have taken at Stern. It touched upon various developments in the current financial turmoil [or what Prof. Smith refers to as the financial tsunami]. A great course. Most definitely recommended.

Here is an article that Prof. Smith wrote in Forbes where he talks about the questions that he, as a professor, and his students [that is us] would have for the new treasury of the Federal Reserve, Mr. Geithner.

I hope that Mr. Geithner reads this article and implements some of the suggestions and answers the questions that the professor and his class have for him and the new administration.

Now its JPMorgan's turn

Picture Source: CNN.net
An article on how JP Morgan is going to reduce its work-force. Just a reflection of the times ahead I guess. It does not matter if you are Jamie Dimon, if the economy is bad, you too will have trying times.

Article produced in verbatim from the DealBlogs on NY Times.

As JPMorgan Chaseconducts a global review of its operations, analysts told The Telegraph that the bank could cut about 3,000 jobs.

The review is slated to be completed by year’s end with the layoffs to follow in subsequent months, said the paper.

“Banks are being forced to right-size their businesses as they face the fact that clients are going to be doing a lot less business over the next 12 months,” one source close to JP Morgan told the Telegraph.

Those 3,000 jobs cited by analysts amount nearly 10 percent of the bank’s near-31,000 global workforce.