For Many an Analyst, It's an Unmerry-Go-Round

Will the merry-go-round of hiring and firing bank stock analysts ever stop? Probably not. We're going through another round, with more bank stock analysts getting the ax or moving into spots vacated by the less fortunate.Most puzzling is what has happened to Sean Ryan, the analyst who had been let go at Bear Stearns, reportedly for his tough-on-banking attitude. Late last year, Ryan joined Banc of America Securities, where he was named chief banking analyst. He's now out of a job. It appears that Banc of America Securities still doesn't have a bank stock analyst. An operator at the firm said there was no listing for "banking" or "financial institutions" in the research department. When asked who covers Bank One or National City Bank, she said it was listed as "in transition."Nancy Bush, who was pushed out of Prudential Securities after it hired superstar Michael Mayo, quickly landed a job as bank stock analyst at Ryan, Beck. That shoved Lawrence Cohn out of a job. And Cohn has gone the way of many a displaced bank stock analyst, he's at a hedge fund, BBT Partners. The BBT fund is owned by the super-rich Bass family of Texas. The fund was started last year by Thomas Taylor, who had served the Bass family well for 20 years, but his fortunes, according to Fortune magazine, turned southward, and he left the aegis of the Basses last fall. But before he left, he started the BBT hedge fund, which initially planned to raise $2.5 billion, including $250 million from the Basses. That's where Cohn finds himself now.