Goldman: Back to office by summer; Chase expands home grants in Black neighborhoods

Wall Street Journal

Record wealth

U.S. household net worth ended 2020 at $130.2 trillion, up 10% from the end of 2019 and “the highest level on record, ” according to the Federal Reserve. “Soaring prices for stocks, real estate and other assets erased losses inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic and related economic downturn.”

“Household balance sheets have remained intact through the pandemic in large part because the federal government has stepped in with trillions of dollars of aid, including direct payments to households and enhanced unemployment benefits. Total debt in the household sector, which consists mostly of mortgages, rose 4% in 2020 to $16.64 trillion, compared with 3.2% growth in 2019. Consumer credit finished the year little changed, as some households used stimulus checks and jobless benefits to pay down debt.”

Financial Times

Bonus payout

Deutsche Bank “increased bonuses for its investment bankers by 46% in 2020, after a pandemic-driven trading boom propelled its fixed income trading division and drove the lender to its first annual profit in six years. The bank’s investment bankers are sharing a bonus pool of €876 million, almost eight times the size of Deutsche’s overall net profit of €113 million in 2020, according to its annual report published on Friday. The pay of Christian Sewing, chief executive, also increased 46%, to €7.4 million.”

“The Frankfurt-based bank, which has racked up a cumulative loss of €14.6 billion since 2015, is amid a costly turnround plan and has suspended dividend payments to shareholders for the second year in a row.”

Washington Post

Gap grants

Chase Home Lending has announced an expansion of its homeownership grant program, providing grants of $5,000 “to help cover closing costs and down payment needs for people buying a home in one of 6,700 neighborhoods in the country that are identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as majority Black.”

“The grant is part of Chase’s $30 billion Path Forward commitment to help close the racial wealth gap. The goal is to help an additional 40,000 Black and Latino families become homeowners during the next five years. In addition to the $5,000 grant, borrowers who qualify can receive $500 more if they complete a certified home buyer education course and finance their purchase with a Chase DreaMaker loan.”

Elsewhere

Back to the office

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon Thursday “told the bank’s thousands of employees who have been mostly working from home since the start of the pandemic that he hopes to have them working in offices again by this summer,” Reuters reported. Solomon said the bank “owes it to its incoming class of analysts and interns to have them come to work in offices, even if only for part of the summer period, alongside other bank staff.”

“Getting them in to the office is best way to get them connected to Goldman Sachs,” he said in a town hall conducted on Zoom. “We understand that until more of us are vaccinated that is going to be a challenge. But based on the current pace of vaccinations, and where we hope to be by the summer, we believe that we are well-positioned and there is a good chance that we can meet that goal.”

Split the costs

A British judge ruled that Barclays “will have to pay its own £33 million pound ($46.09 million) legal bill despite winning a case against British businesswoman Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Group,” Reuters reported. Judge David Waksman ordered “both sides to pay their own legal costs. PCP had been potentially liable for both sides’ expenses under England’s ‘loser pays’ laws.”

“The civil case revolved around how Barclays secured billions of pounds from Qatar and Abu Dhabi-backed investors 13 years ago, allowing it to avoid a government bailout. While Waksman said Barclays had deceived Staveley, he ultimately ruled in February that PCP had not proven its case on causation and loss, meaning the overall case failed.”