The Financial Times has identified a peculiar anomaly among employees of one of the world’s top investment banks: on one hand, they don’t especially like their jobs, on the other they idolize their leader.
The bank in question is Goldman Sachs, although something similar seems to be afoot at J.P. Morgan. The FT notes that current and former Goldman Sachs employees using Glassdoor rank the firm extremely badly for work life balance. – It’s allocated just 2.7 stars out of a potential five. “Be prepared to say goodbye to family life, exercise routines and hobbies,” one former Goldman technology employee complains. The FT also observes that Goldman’s ranking on this particular dimension is below that of Sports Direct, the UK retailer accused of subjecting staff to conditions similar to a “Victorian workhouse.”
Simultaneously, however, Goldman staff think CEO Lloyd Blankfein is just great. In fact, Blankfein is one of Glassdoor’s highest rated CEOs, with a 93% approval rating. J.P. Morgan’s staff are equally adoring of Jamie Dimon, whose approval rating is 91% – even though J.P.M bankers use Glassdoor to complain of fragmentation and political infighting.
What’s going on? The FT doesn’t claim to know. It suggests that what Glassdoor’s figures do seem to show though is that people who work in banking love their bosses irrespective of their working conditions. – Which is odd.
Separately, if you want to inject yourself into a fast growing of finance right now, you could always try cybersecurity services provided to companies in the midst of a merger. Bloomberg has spoken to Deloitte, which thinks this is the new steaming thing. “It’s something our very large customers are asking for in the final phases of a deal, as part of a mapping of potential risks,” says the head of cyber-risk services at Deloitte. “..It will become a pillar of M&A decisions,” he predicts. Deloitte is targeting revenues of $1.9bn from this by 2020.
Meanwhile:
Goldman Sachs says ETF purchases are on pace to hit a record $300 billion in 2017 – more than 2015 and 2016 combined. (Bloomberg)
J.P. Morgan thinks banks’ rates trading businesses will grow by an annualized rate of 7% for two years. (Bloomberg)
BNP Paribas has become one of the top three investment banks in Europe. (Bloomberg)
New reasons to get yourself to a quant hedge fund. (Business Insider)
Jamie Dimon was spotted having lunch with ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on Sunday. (CNBC)
Stephanie Flanders, the former BBC economics editor who left to join JPMorgan Asset Management has left to run a new team of 120 economists and journalists at Bloomberg. (Financial News)
Citi hired Toby Ali from Bank of America to head its leveraged finance group in Europe. (Financial Times)
Citi also hired Karl-Georg Altenburg for a newly formed advisory board to help the bank and its clients navigate Brexit. Altenburg was Deutsche Bank’s co-head of corporate finance in EMEA before retiring in late 2015. (WSJ)
SocGen combined its electronic and high touch trading teams ahead of MiFID II. (The Trade)
Michel Barnier outlines exactly what’s required to maintain the rights of EU citizens in the UK. (Europa)
There is no downside to high levels of self-control. (British Psychological Society)
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