Mark Baker

Opinion

Significant Arm: What SoftBank’s landmark deal says about other IPO prospects

The enormous re-listing of Arm Holdings is unrepresentative in many ways, but it still contains a valuable lesson for those coming down the pipe.

Mark Baker, September 15, 2023

Capital Markets

The long goodbye: How Libor ended and why the arguing hasn’t

Financial market practitioners might be forgiven for reflecting on a job well done now that the final Libor panel has ended its submissions. The journey has been immense, but the focus is turning to loose ends, including the argument that just won’t go away: is there a place for credit-sensitive rates in a post-Libor world?

Mark Baker, September 12, 2023

Opinion

Gotta catch ’em all: How US bank regulation works now

With a new proposal for long-term debt issuance, US banking regulators have launched the next phase of their war against the lack of confidence that shook the industry in March 2023. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the approach is less about precision strikes and more about a carpet-bombing campaign.

Mark Baker, August 30, 2023

Opinion

There may be no winners in the battle for Goldman Sachs

The manner of the campaign against chief executive David Solomon risks causing the lasting damage that his internal opponents presumably wish to avoid.

Mark Baker, August 23, 2023

Banking

CRE and super-regional banks: what the latest data shows

The second-quarter earnings season saw more detail from US banks on how they are preparing for the worst in commercial real estate exposures. We look at how the data shapes up for the super-regional sector.

Mark Baker, August 11, 2023

Opinion

The great rating reckoning: Moody’s versus the US regionals

Moody’s took a swing at US banks last night. The moves might have seemed indiscriminate, but it’s hard to argue with the conclusions. After the scares of March, the sector is far from out of the woods.

Mark Baker, August 08, 2023

Opinion

Salisbury’s move to Sixth Street piles more pressure on Goldman’s ambitions

Goldman Sachs is losing a key executive in the very business it is relying on to turn the firm's fortunes around.

Mark Baker, July 28, 2023

Awards for Excellence

Banker of the year 2023: Advantage Sewing – How Deutsche Bank’s chief executive saw strength in a crisis

Christian Sewing has turned Deutsche Bank around. The firm has a resilience now that would have seemed unlikely when he was appointed chief executive five years ago. By his own admission, some of the toughest work is still to be done. But the past year and the most recent banking crisis have provided a striking validation of the strategy he set in place.

Mark Baker, July 13, 2023

Capital Markets

Tech Layoffs Mean Even More Empty Offices In San Francisco

US commercial real estate: Storm in a teacup or next shoe to drop?

Fears were already growing about dangers lurking in US commercial real estate even before the wave of turmoil that has hit banks in the last two months. After the pandemic and a rush of rate hikes, there is little debate that the sector is at a turning point – the question is whether something worse is on the horizon.

Mark Baker, May 10, 2023

Opinion

US banking: How to fix liquidity regulation

Rethinking liquidity regulation would be better than a regulatory backlash that imposes an even greater liquidity burden on banks. History offers some lessons on how that might be done.

Mark Baker, April 13, 2023

Fintech

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How NowCM is putting the pieces together in digital capital markets

A flurry of collaborations and the acquisition of Nivaura’s technology is putting NowCM in a key position in the digital capital markets ecosystem. Its focus on real-time issuance and its ownership of a regulated marketplace may have just become even more relevant.

Mark Baker, April 12, 2023

Opinion

Not all doom and gloom at Jefferies

The last broker-dealer was always going to feel the pain of a continuing capital markets slowdown, but sales and trading has provided a useful fillip.

Mark Baker, April 03, 2023

Banking

Crisis at Credit Suisse: How we got here

Credit Suisse came out of the global financial crisis in better shape than many peers. But fragility was never far away – in the years that followed its fortunes would swing back and forth, sometimes violently. Here is the bank’s route to 2023, explained through Euromoney’s own coverage.

Mark Baker, March 16, 2023

Banking

Obituary: Dan Oakes, 1972-2023

For one of the most considerate men in capital markets, nothing was ever too much trouble.

Mark Baker, March 09, 2023

Opinion

Solomon’s new bet: How proximity will rescue Goldman’s diversification case

The notion that different businesses can produce healthy results by being under the same roof underpins Goldman Sachs’ diversification strategy. After failing to make that work at the first time of asking, its second attempt looks more derivative – but is perhaps likelier to succeed.

Mark Baker, March 07, 2023

Banking

Book review: Blue Blood, by Robert Pickering

The former CEO of Cazenove has written an intriguing reflection on his 23-year career at the storied London institution. It captures his view from the heart of the turmoil, but mostly steers clear of score-settling.

Mark Baker, February 24, 2023

Banking

Fool’s Goldman?

For the past few years, Goldman Sachs has dangled the promise of something new – a diversification in its business mix that would give shareholders a reason to finally re-rate the stock. But while the firm still has the glint of Goldman on the surface, disappointing earnings are revealing something less valuable underneath. Can its second investor day now fix the legacy of the first?

Mark Baker, February 08, 2023

Opinion

Lost in Spacs

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has lifted the lid on some eye-popping charges against the former CFO of a special purpose acquisition company.

Mark Baker, January 05, 2023

Capital Markets

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After Citrix: Leveraged finance and the point of no return

With broadly syndicated markets largely shut and CLOs facing formidable challenges, leveraged finance has had a tough year. It has been a story of big hung deals and a market that is even more reliant on credit funds than before. With little clarity over when interest rates will peak, let alone start to fall, how will participants manage their way through the turmoil?

Mark Baker, December 22, 2022

Opinion

UK financial-sector regulation: Just don’t call it Big Bang 2.0

The UK government has launched a sprawling range of measures to reform the country’s financial sector and markets. But the moves were mostly already under way – it is really all about the optics.

Mark Baker, December 13, 2022

Banking

Credit Suisse shares drop through Terp after profit warning

Shareholders will be keenly watching two market levels for Credit Suisse shares in the weeks ahead: the theoretical ex-rights price and the subscription price for the capital increase that is under way.

Mark Baker, November 25, 2022

Opinion

No, Iceland did not misprice a privatization because of an Excel snafu

Most governments would have been delighted to do what Iceland managed with its sale of Íslandsbanki shares earlier this year. But an audit of the deal has triggered a war of words with the body responsible for it, as well as some very odd conclusions from an Excel spreadsheet.

Mark Baker, November 22, 2022

Opinion

Stevenson defends his legacy at HSBC

HSBC’s outgoing CFO, Ewen Stevenson, has mounted a robust case for the bank’s cost performance in an intriguing call with analysts that also featured an appearance by his replacement, Georges Elhedery. As he prepares to leave the bank, Stevenson defended his legacy by taking on the firm’s arch-critic, Ping An.

Mark Baker, November 14, 2022

Capital Markets

Porsche’s one-off blowout

The biggest IPO in Europe for a decade has not generated the kind of excitement that might have been expected in calmer times. Porsche’s flotation was solid enough, but its structure and unusual nature make it a poor proxy for the broader equity capital markets business, which is on its knees.

Mark Baker, November 01, 2022

Opinion

Is leveraged finance now safe even when it’s shut?

This year has seen banks report markdowns on leveraged finance commitments and related exposures, something that is hardly surprising given what has happened to yields. But even with syndicates struggling to offload some high-profile big deals, the troubles seem oddly muted so far.

Mark Baker, October 28, 2022

Banking

Half-in or half-out? Credit Suisse keeps IB options open

Credit Suisse has finally lifted the lid on its reorganization. But for all the frenzy of deal making it now plans, questions still remain over whether recasting the investment bank as a nostalgic partnership with a throwback name is the answer to the bank's strategic problems.

Peter Lee, October 28, 2022

Opinion

Why Goldman’s re-org is not the U-turn rivals were looking for

David Solomon is having to field some scepticism as he changes Goldman Sachs’s approach to its loss-making consumer banking operation and restructures the firm. But nothing that has been developed is going to waste, and recognising that a business might sit better elsewhere is simply good sense.

Mark Baker, October 18, 2022

Capital Markets

No-action action: Why Mersinger wants the CFTC to stop wasting its time

Regulators often rely on giving relief when market participants or products fall between different jurisdictions or certification is unavoidably delayed. But one US regulator is getting fed up with having to do the same thing over and over again, and is calling for rules to be fixed instead of being endlessly patched up.

Mark Baker, October 18, 2022

Opinion

The bond vigilantes are back with a vengeance

In public at least, the Bank of England has been determined to end its gilts intervention when it said it would, but it’s getting harder for the BoE to manage its conflicts – and the market doesn’t know what to believe any more.

Mark Baker, October 13, 2022

Wealth

How Morgan Stanley lost track of its old hard drives

An extraordinary series of data protection failures at Morgan Stanley’s wealth management business has seen the SEC fine the company $35 million.

Mark Baker, September 21, 2022

Mark Baker

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