Category: Trending

IB Tidbits on 23 October, 2019 – US Bank Earnings and more

Though news flow around the US-China trade war and Fed action & commentary have dominated investor attention in the recent past, last week belonged to the US banks. The Q3 earnings season kicked off and performance of the US banks came in mostly positive despite analysts expecting a weak quarter. BofA and Morgan Stanley were the standouts, while Goldman was weaker.

BofA reported better than expected driven by IB, Consumer Banking and Wealth Management. Trading was better than expected contrary to industry trend. Both fixed income and equity business were in line with the expectations.

Morgan Stanley posted the best Q3 revenue in a decade with earnings exceeding expectation. FICC did well owing to the strong activity in credit and government bonds while equities were in line with the estimate. IB did slightly better while wealth management posted marginally lesser earnings than expected.

JP Morgan was the standout performer for Q3 with its net income and revenue both exceeding expectations primarily driven by IB and Consumer Banking. Equities were lighter while fixed income and bonds were stronger than estimate.

Citi’s Q3 beat estimate owing to its trading strength. FICC was better than expected driven by higher rates. Equity business was in line with the expectations

Wells Fargo reported a miss slightly vs. estimates on the back of ongoing restructuring. Net interest income was a shade lighter than expectation. A breather came from growth an beat in the consumer credit portfolio. Markets are now eagerly waiting for the new CEO to join.

Goldman underperformed due to weakness in Investment & Lending and IB. Trading strength was driven by equities and fixed income. The Investment Management revenue was in line with the expectations.

All eyes are now on European Bank earnings now. UBS reported a big miss last night, Barclays (26-Oct), Credit Suisse (30-Oct) and BNP (31-Oct). In other IB news, Jamie Dimon is in India and just gave a positive interview to CNBC TV18 (on JPMC’s plans in India, Indian economy), DB to cuts jobs in its Rates division as well and UBS may cut some workforce in its IB division.

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RISE – Relaunch Initiative to Search Employment Our Flagship Return to Work program

Symphoni_smm_Rise-creative_dec19

Very excited to launch our Return to Work program – “RISE – Relaunch Initiative to Search Employment”- to help people rejoining work after a careerbreak.

I was driven to launch our returntowork program formally after reading an article last week, which suggested that more than 200 global firms run such programs and yet we have heard so little formally about them in India.

Such programs started nearly a decade ago with an investmentbank, so it only seems fit to start this here with our Investment Banking Consulting & Offshoring (IBCO) Practice.

So here goes – if you have worked in or know people with experience in the following, do reply to us in this post – Business Finance, Product Control, Financial Control, Regulatory Reporting, Quant, Analytics, Risk, Research, Fund Accounting, Operations, Settlement, Reconciliation, IT, Compliance, Surveillance or related roles.

Now in lighter vein, I found some cool names that companies call their programs – Returnship, BreakThrough, Return Flight, Real Returns, Resume, RePower, Re-entry, Take 2, NextChapter, Comeback, Rework, Re-employ, Debut 2.0, Encore, Re-ignite,… phew!

I was even thinking of calling our program PPP or Prodigal Professional Program, but wouldn’t it be too controversial?

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DiverCities – Multi-City Diversity Hiring Drives for Clients

DiverCities – Hiring Women in Investment Banks in Mumbai, Bengaluru & Gurugram

Please look into your profiles – If you see more than 3 of these keywords there, then we are probably looking for you – – Model Development, Analytics, SAS, Python, C++, Machine Learning, PySpark, Asset Pricing, Derivative Pricing Models, Credit Risk Models, VAR, Market Risk Models, Data Governance, Technology Audit, Product Control, Legal Counsel, Liquidity Reporting, Control Room Compliance, BI Automation, BP&A, FP&A.

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ROPE – Reach Out Program for Employees in distress. Support Program for Employees facing redundancy

Launching Symphoni HR’s ‘ROPE initiative’… or the “Reach Out Program for Employees in distress” (ROPE)…

This thought came to me now (late at night) as I ponder over my interaction over the last week… with many of my friends and ex-colleagues who lost their jobs overnight or as their future came under heightened uncertainty.

But all is NOT lost my friends… Hope Floats ()… I do have some Investment banking clients that are hiring, and my team and I can act as a bridge for you folks.

Some of my clients are willing to explore placing YOU talented people in similar or related work streams.

So for those people seeking new roles and those firms willing to welcome them on the other side of the bridge, please contact me….

Active roles with me include Quant & Analytics, Data Science, Finance/Product Control & Reporting, Fund Admin, Fund Accounting, BP&A, Risk & Compliance, to name a few…

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QWANT – Quant Women are Now Trending. Diversity Initiative for Quant & Analytics Roles

Let’s call it QWANT now people….. High time! I came across this article yesterday about a 2012 stat that put women at 8% of the global quant universe. And it got me thinking… is the situation very different now?

So I am happy to launch the Program @ Symphoni HR…. now! ***Even if my my clients don’t have a job for you, I will send you in the right direction! My team will talk to you and guide you…

***Men are invited and we will help you guys in finding jobs too, but there is a have to take up mentorship of a junior diversity candidate!

***QWANTS that don’t need a job should call us as well… to guide us one knows better than you…

***Academic you charge a preferential fee for women? You should… ! We invite educational partners to get in touch with us too!

***There are groups globally for women in quantitate methods and there even some competitions? What about here? Any ideas?

What do you guys feel? Hit me up and give me more ideas…

I just had a mini-Jerry Maguire memo moment last night and wrote this up but I sure won’t be fired for you know what I mean.

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