Euromoney’s 2012 FX survey results

Euromoney’s 2012 FX survey results

Access the results now

The money network:

The money network:

Why crowdfunding threatens traditional bank lending

April 2010

Macaskill on markets: Cultural leanings mask conflict at heart of investment banking industry

Investment bankers frequently boast that their employer has a unique culture. There is a shared sense of purpose and responsibility for decision-making, normally allied with a common understanding of risk and the best way to pursue manageable growth. Often these cultural values are made explicit with a formal "One Firm" policy.


 

Jon Macaskill is one of the leading capital markets and derivatives journalists, with over 20 years’ experience covering financial markets from London and New York. Most recently he worked at one of the biggest global investment banks

 

Two of the banks that most zealously promoted the unique nature of their culture were the two that had the highest level of employee share ownership: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

Bear Stearns was never able to shake its image as a firm of scrappy bond traders where sharp elbows were the main means of advancement.

But Lehman managed to convince both the bulk of its employees and much of the outside world that it had developed a culture to rival that of industry leader Goldman Sachs.

Lehman relentlessly promoted its One Firm mantra and pioneered such gimmicks as pasting the elevators at its New York headquarters with charts of...


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