New Barclays (BCS) boss Antony Jenkins is the only CEO of a global universal bank without a background in investment banking, and according to Bloomberg, the low-profile retail banker is everything that former CEO Bob Diamond wasn’t. Mr. Jenkins, the first in his family to attend university, started his career at Barclays in 1983 and, after a stint at Citi, returned in 2006. Barclays chairman Marcus Agius, expected to step down in the wake of the Libor scandal now that the task of replacing Mr. Diamond is complete, said that Mr. Jenkins stood out in a competitive field of candidates, according to The New York Times. Former U.K. financial services chief Paul Myners told Bloomberg that there were “probably less than four credible candidates, two of whom I know were approached and turned it down almost without any serious consideration.”
JPMorgan’s internal investigation into trading losses associated with the trader known as the London Whale is far from over, and has required the efforts of more than 100 hundred lawyers, Reuters reports. U.S. authorities have also begun interviewing witnesses, and a high-quality internal probe may be helpful in dealing with the government.
As Knight Capital was reeling in the aftermath of a $440 million trading loss, JPMorgan refused to accept thousands of securities Knight hoped to use to obtain financing to stay afloat, The Wall Street Journal reports. JPMorgan’s hesitance came amid a review of the banks dealings with brokerages that use JPMorgan to clear trades.
The Journal gathered economists’ expectations for Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech in Jackson Hole.
Rumor is that Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, a strident critic of proposed intervention by the European Central Bank in sovereign debt markets, may resign.
Nomura will take $1 billion of costs out of its wholesale unit, which includes investment banking and trading operations, according to Bloomberg.
Spain is considering pumping its own money into Bankia SA, the failed lender thought to be headed for a European bailout, in a move that would protect junior creditors, Bloomberg reports. Does Spain have enough cash?
Greece announced plans to slash public sector wages, pensions and social spending to find the savings needed to satisfy European rescuers.
The unemployment rate in the eurozone rose to a record 11.3 percent in July.
Nobody knows anything about investing, according to an SEC study on financial literacy, and so leave the stock-picking to the experts, writes Kevin Roose.
