Receiving Wide Coverage ...
JPMorgan Shuffles in New CFO: JPMorgan Chase has named Marianne Lake as its new chief financial officer. As this American Banker article points out, the appointment of a new CFO was to be expected, given Doug Braunstein's apparent demotion back in July following the more than $6 billion in trading losses caused by the London Whale. (It should be noted that, on the record, the bank's CEO Jamie Dimon is telling news outlets the move has "nothing" to do with the trading losses and that Braunstein is transitioning to a role as vice chairman at the company in order to return "to his true love of investment banking.") The selection of Lake, on the other hand, was a bit less predictable, given the current financial chief of JPM's retail banking unit is, as Reuters notes, "a little-known executive" within the financial institution. (Other internal candidates up for the job included commodities chief Blythe Masters and Lou Rauchenberger, a top aide within the corporate and investment bank.) It also bucks the trend "of large banks often looking outside their finance departments for their CFOs lately," the Journal says. Dimon listed Lake's talent with numbers, high IQ and experience "on the consumer side and wholesale side" among her strengths while discussing the appointment. And, while he also maintained appointing a woman to the finance-chief job "wasn't a consideration at all," many news outlets were apt to give a nod to JPM for promoting gender equity in the C-suit, with the Journal and the Times quick to anoint Lake one of the most powerful women on Wall Street. As American Banker magazine Editor in Chief Heather Landy tweeted "Marianne Lake may not be the 1st female CFO of a giant U.S. bank - see @SallieKrawcheck - but this still feels like a big leap for womankind."
Credit Suisse Restructures: Changes are in the works at Credit Suisse. The Swiss bank announced on Tuesday that it plans "to combine its asset management unit with its private bank" in an attempt to meet "the new regulatory reality." The move was accompanied by a management shake-up that saw, among other things, U.S. business exec Robert Shafir and private business banking exec Hans-Ulrich Meister being put in charge of the new private banking and wealth management division. According to Dealbook, the bank now "expects to save a combined 4 billion francs ($4.25 billion)," mostly related to layoffs announced earlier this year. While the integration was expected, investors had been hoping "a more drastic move" would have been made after rival bank UBS recently elected to cut more than 10,000 jobs and focus on its core wealth management business. Financial Times, Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal
The Securities and Exchange Commission intends to expand an enforcement probe of stock exchanges. People familiar with the matter told the paper regulators will take "a broader look at how exchanges develop new products, communicate with investors and provide incentives to trade" after an SEC probe into trading order types sparked concerns.
Financial Times
Here's some more Credit Suisse news: New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman is preparing to file a lawsuit against the bank, alleging it "misled investors who lost more than $11 billion on mortgage-backed securities." Given Schneiderman's track record, the lawsuit's focus should come as no surprise. He did say investigators were preparing to bring more actions against financial institutions involved in the mortgage mess, after filing a similar lawsuit against JPMorgan in October involving Bear Sterns' mortgage business. Credit Suisse declined to comment on the allegations.
New York Times
UBS' previously alleged rogue trader Kweku M. Adoboli was found guilty "of at least one count of fraud related to a $2.3 billion trading loss at the Swiss bank." The jury is still deliberating on the remaining five counts.
