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☆ JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon called the bank's acquisition of fintech Frank a 'huge mistake' after being grilled about it on an earnings call
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Carter Johnson | Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Mike Mayo Bloomberg TVIn response, Dimon said that JPMorgan has been "very disciplined" in its acquisition strategy, but added that the Frank acquisition was, "in one way or another, a huge mistake." Mayo has previously been critical of JPMorgan's spending plans, which also became a flashpoint for some JPMorgan investors in the run up to the bank's investor day last May. In 2020, Insider detailed how JPMorgan spun up a "rapid proof-of-concept" model to speed along startup investments within its corporate and investment banking division. That team was headed by Michael Elanjian, who now leads digital investment banking at JPMorgan, according to his LinkedIn. Or are you a shareholder with concerns about the bank's spending?

☆ JPMorgan's acquisition strategy is coming under fire. Here are the 15 fintech and consumer-focused deals done by the bank since 2020.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Carter Johnson | Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

NutmegDeal details: JPMorgan announced the acquisition in June 2021, paying approximately $1 billion. cxLoyaltyDeal details: JPMorgan said it would buy cxLoyalty's global loyalty division in December 2020. ProxymityDeal details: JPMorgan, Citi, HSBC, and other firms together invested $20.5 million in Proxymity in May 2020. Viva WalletDeal details: JPMorgan said it would acquire 49% of Viva Wallet in January 2022, pending regulatory approval. Christian Petersen-Clausen/Getty ImagesRenovite TechnologiesDeal details: JPMorgan announced on September 12 it plans to acquire Renovite.

☆ Goldman Sachs is still hiring amid sweeping job cuts and a $3 billion consumer lending hit. Here's where the bank continues to recruit talent.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Despite cutting thousands of jobs, Goldman Sachs still has some 400 job openings. In a brutal bloodletting, Goldman Sachs laid off as many as 3,200 employees this week and reported steep losses in its troubled consuming lending division. The highest share of postings (48) are for Goldman's asset and wealth management division. Most of the asset and wealth management roles are dedicated to servicing the ultra-wealthy as well as institutional clients. Editor's note: A previous version of this story said Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

☆ Layoffs are hitting Wall Street. Here's what you can do to land on your feet if you lost your gig.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But first, dark days on Wall Street. Two of the most high-profile firms on Wall Street — Goldman Sachs and BlackRock — made job cuts that impacted thousands of workers. All of that is to say, after a good run of things on Wall Street, the tide is starting to turn. I called a Wall Street recruiter to pick their brain on advice they'd give to those who just lost their jobs. Wall Street did not have a good showing on a list of the best places to work.

☆ Inside Goldman Sachs' layoffs: 'Every 10 minutes, I just kept hearing that someone was being let go'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Carter Johnson | Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Every 10 minutes, I just kept hearing that someone was being let go," one employee said. Goldman, which reports fourth-quarter earnings next week, has had the added problem of having lost billions on its nascent consumer banking experiment. "We've just been hearing that today was doomsday and that we'd start hearing cuts this morning. Every 10 minutes, I just kept hearing that someone was being let go," this person said. Consumer banking associateGoldman Sachs' spokesman Tony Fratto said: "We know this is a difficult time for people leaving the firm.

☆ Everything you need to know about the M&A market for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

After a long, cold dealmaking season, insiders are hoping to the market begin to thaw this year. So Insider's Carter Johnson spoke to six M&A bankers about what to expect this year. And while it's true sellers could always try and wait out the market, there's no gurantee of when things can get better. Click here to read more about what to keep an eye out for in the M&A market this year. This is what we know about the man some once considered to be a potential successor to CEO James Gorman.

Insider asked more than 40 top fintech investors to nominate the most promising fintechs. Here are the 61 most promising fintechs. Insider surveyed 43 investors — including those from Bain Capital Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and QED Investors — about the most promising fintechs to watch. Global fintech funding dropped to $20.4 billion in the second quarter, falling 46% from last year, according to data from CB Insights. Check out the 61 fintechs identified as most promising by top investors.

Parafin, launched in 2020, works with so-called platform partners, or companies that other small businesses sell their products through. All the cofounders knew was that they wanted to build technology that would help small businesses. And they may not get their first contract payment from the government for as long as 120 days," Reed, the startup's CEO, told Insider. Helping small businesses manage their taxesComplYant's founder Shiloh Jackson wants to help people be present in their bookkeeping. HoneyBookWhile countless small businesses have been harmed by the pandemic, self-employment and entrepreneurship have found ways to blossom as Americans started new ventures.

☆ 6 top M&A bankers lay out their dealmaking playbook for 2023 — from getting around a sagging bond market to dealing with skeptical shareholders
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

"We're certainly telling clients to plan for longer timelines between signing an announcement and when a transaction closes," RBC's Sperduto said. Bankers noted the figure was on pace with the average amount of deals done in the five years preceding the pandemic. "There is still significant desire from both corporates and financial sponsors to transact," Gary Posternack, co-head of global M&A at Barclays, told Insider. But in 2023, bankers see more transactions receiving greater scrutiny from stakeholders. Vito Sperduto, the co-head of global M&A at RBC Capital Markets.

☆ Blackstone used this data tool to upend its real-estate business. Now it's being deployed across its PE portfolio.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Carter Johnson | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Blackstone Chief Technology Officer John Stecher told Insider that Blackstone now uses Data Direct — previously called Real Estate Data Direct — across both its real estate and private-equity portfolios. From real estate to private equityInsider first detailed the launch of Data Direct, then known as Real Estate Data Direct (REDD), last year. That led to the roll out of the data tool to other parts of the business, like Blackstone's private-equity portfolio, and to new business lines next year. Data Direct, at its heart, is a data tool, and its success is predicated upon importing reliable information in the first place. Having good, clean data has made Data Direct very successful," he added.

☆ Execs from top firms like Morgan Stanley and Vanguard share tips for how to cut costs when moving to the public cloud
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Carter Johnson | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

When Vanguard first made a push into the public cloud, Michael Carr, the firm's chief technology officer, knew realizing savings was a key part of the move. Collaboration is keyAs with most technology applications, there's a human behavior element to cloud cost savings. At Capital One, it took years to build a culture of collaboration between technology and finance teams within the bank's centralized cloud expense management division, Johnston said. Before, the finance team would send the tech team an aggregate bill at the end of each month and "that was kind of the end of the story," Johnston said. Speaking the same language has instilled a greater sense of empathy across different teams, like finance, technology, business, and others.

☆ 10 of Wall Street's top tech execs detail how the public cloud is revolutionizing the way they do business: 'We are fundamentally rethinking how we solve problems.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Bianca Chan | Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

This year saw the continued embrace of the public cloud by Wall Street firms. Wall Street is headed for the clouds. But now, a wholesale migration from physical, on-premise data centers to cloud networks is fully underway within financial services. Finance firms are using a move to the cloud as an opportunity to overhaul their business beyond just upgrading back-end tech. Here are the six top trends to watch in the cloud in 2023, according to top Wall Street tech execs.

☆ Here's how to get geared up for 2023 on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But first, Wells Fargo takes a new approach to tech. Ather Williams, senior executive vice president and head of strategy, digital, and innovation at Wells Fargo Wells Fargo1. In other news:After years of hesitancy, Wall Street is finally turning the corner on its acceptance of the public cloud. From a surge in dealmaking to the rise of superpowered software, these are the key trends top VCs are eyeing this year. We identified 34 tech companies that seem primed for a deal.

☆ Wells Fargo's top strategy exec details the bank's the multi-year internal reorganization to cut down its tech development cycle
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Carter Johnson | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Wells Fargo launched a digital strategy group in 2020 amid a broader re-org. "The heritage of Wells Fargo has been very fragmented. "Now you have to teach business people about tech development and tech development people about how the business works. In the wake of the CFPB announcement, Wells Fargo said it expects operating losses in the fourth-quarter to reach $3.5 billion. Wells Fargo reports quarterly earnings on January 13.

☆ Inside Wall Street's cloud ambitions: From cutting costs to new security tools, tech execs from Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Citadel, and others predict the top cloud trends in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Bianca Chan | Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Private-equity firms are coming around to the idea of using more data in the investment process. It's still an uphill battle.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Take Blackstone, which recently expanded a data tool it originally built for its real-estate business to be used across its PE portfolio. As recently as just a few years ago, PE firms were just starting to warm to the idea of building out data-science teams. But that tech has been a hard sell for PE firms as well, until recently. Many PE firms are just now waking up to the possibilities of the public cloud. To be fair to PE firms, figuring out how to incorporate data analysis into the investing process is no easy task.

For the last five years, Insider has been spotlighting up-and-comers on Wall Street. We've asked the rising stars about the books that informed both their careers and personal growth. If you're struggling to come up with a good gift for a successful dealmaker or trader, we've got you covered. Over the last few years, we've asked our Wall Street rising stars to recommend books to our readers and how these must-reads helped them succeed in their careers. So if you have an overachieving Wall Streeter in your life, look no further than this selection of 35 books below.

☆ A data tool Blackstone built for its real-estate empire is now being used across its PE portfolio. Here's why it could play a key role in the investing giant uncovering new deals.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Carter Johnson | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The firm built Data Direct for its real-estate business, but is now using it across private equity. Blackstone Chief Technology Officer John Stecher told Insider that Blackstone now uses Data Direct — previously called Real Estate Data Direct — across both its real estate and private-equity portfolios. From real estate to private equityInsider first detailed the launch of Data Direct, then known as Real Estate Data Direct (REDD), last year. Data Direct, at its heart, is a data tool, and its success is predicated upon importing reliable information in the first place. Having good, clean data has made Data Direct very successful," he added.

☆ Wall Street's shift to the public cloud hasn't come cheap. From dashboards to automation, here's how firms like Morgan Stanley and Vanguard are keeping costs down while using the tech.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Carter Johnson | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But the pay-as-you-go subscription model associated with the cloud can also lead to higher expenses when usage goes unchecked. Collaboration is keyAs with most technology applications, there's a human behavior element to cloud cost savings. At Capital One, it took years to build a culture of collaboration between technology and finance teams within the bank's centralized cloud expense management division, Johnston said. Before, the finance team would send the tech team an aggregate bill at the end of each month and "that was kind of the end of the story," Johnston said. Speaking the same language has instilled a greater sense of empathy across different teams, like finance, technology, business, and others.

☆ A former top tech exec at Bank of America just launched a new consulting business. Here are 3 key mistakes he said firms are making as they plan for the future.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Bianca Chan | Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sumeet Chabria, a long-time Wall Street tech exec, is launching a network-based consultancy firm. ThoughtLinks will have a wide range of experts who can offer clients bespoke and practical advice. Chabria was most recently the COO of Bank of America's global technology and operations team. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest stories in hedge funds, PE, fintech, and banking — delivered daily to your inbox. Ahead of the launch of ThoughtLinks, Chabria detailed three of the biggest mistakes financial firms and those in other industries are making when it comes to digital transformation and the future of their workforces.

In 2017, Insider highlighted its first crop of rising stars on Wall Street. of rising stars on Wall Street. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest stories in hedge funds, PE, fintech, and banking — delivered daily to your inbox. For the last five years, Insider has been highlighting some of the best and brightest on Wall Street. Here's what 13 Wall Street rising stars are up to five years on.

☆ From books on the science of sleep to fantasy football strategy podcasts, here's what Wall Street's bright stars are reading and listening to
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Alex Morrell | Alyson Velati | Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Insider selected 25 young professionals 35 and under for its rising stars of Wall Street list. We asked the up-and-comers to tell us what book they last read and their takeaways. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest stories in hedge funds, PE, fintech, and banking — delivered daily to your inbox. We asked 2022's rising stars of Wall Street about the books they most recently picked up and the podcasts they turn to regularly. Their selections range from books on building "your second brain" to fantasy football strategy shows.

☆ From Python to Rust, these are the top coding languages for landing a gig on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Bianca Chan | Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Coding languages are a foundational element of any tech job, but not all are made equal. Coding languages, like Python and Java, are how humans can communicate with computers by providing a set of instructions for a system to execute. As it turns out, not all programming languages are made equal and some are more relevant to certain corners of Wall Street than others. Insider spoke with recruiters, Wall Street tech execs, and industry insiders, and analyzed job postings to get the low down on in-demand skill sets. Here are the top coding languages to know to land a tech job on Wall Street.

☆ Wall Street's trust issues with crypto won't be easily repaired in the wake of the FTX blowup
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Trust in the crypto industry — be it with Wall Street firms, politicians, venture capitalists, or the general public — is destroyed thanks to FTX's downfall. It's a bitter pill to swallow when one considers the hard-fought progress crypto had made on Wall Street in recent years. canvassed more than a dozen Wall Street insiders to get a sense of where traditional firms stand on their crypto plans. Meanwhile, firms hoping to bridge the gap between Wall Street and crypto have been put in an impossible spot, answering for another's sins. Click here to read more on how Wall Street is moving forward with its crypto plans in the wake of FTX.

☆ Insiders detail how Wall Street is preparing for a post-FTX world, from heightened scrutiny on crypto deals to rethinking hiring plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Morgan Chittum | Bianca Chan | Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Most Wall Street firms have executed big crypto and blockchain initiatives. The ties between Wall Street, Main Street, and digital assets have never been tighter. Some traditional firms have chosen crypto custodians to do that for them, while others offer it themselves. Fidelity also has its own digital assets custody offering, and reportedly had plans to continue building out its digital-asset team as recently as late October. 121, which requires most SEC registrants to record the fair value of custodied digital assets as a liability.

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