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☆ What is ‘founder mode?’ The meaning behind the latest Silicon Valley buzzword
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-11 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —The battle over “founder mode” versus “manager mode” is one of those manufactured dramas that only a small segment of the world cares about — like going to Davos or Cannes or the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. The idea is that a founder knows their company the way a parent knows their child. Graham doesn’t really define founder mode because every founder and every firm is different. I’ll offer another: Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds. The most successful “founder mode” guys (they’re almost all male, as far as I can tell) seemed to always have a trusted manager by their side.

Persons: CNN Business ’, Paul Graham, Graham, ” Graham, Brian Chesky, Chesky, Steve Jobs, It’s, Graham doesn’t, Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Ray Dalio, narc, Rob Copeland, ”, Rich Hagberg, Ashley Herd, Jessica Lessin, “, Tim Cook Organizations: CNN Business, New York CNN, Bridgewater, New York Times, LinkedIn Locations: New York, Davos, Cannes, Silicon Valley

☆ Your Online Lender May Not Be a Bank. Here’s How to Keep Your Money Safe.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-10 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If it looks like a bank, advertises like a bank and accepts money like a bank — it still might not be a bank. That is the lesson being meted out in painful fashion to tens of thousands of depositors who entrusted their savings to online-only lenders. But to the surprise of many depositors, these companies merely collect money and funnel it through intermediaries to banks. Because Synapse was not a bank, the F.D.I.C. insurance did not automatically apply, and now nearly $100 million of deposits have been frozen or lost.

Organizations: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Synapse Financial Locations: U.S

Some leading business executives say they don’t know quite what to think of Vice President Kamala Harris. She has been meeting with groups of corporate executives roughly every two months at her residence in Washington, according to two executives who have met with her. When a state dinner was held for President William Ruto of Kenya in May, Ms. Harris spoke with businesspeople about economic topics including access to labor and worker training, one attendee said. And a month earlier, she attended an event at the Colette Club on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan arranged by Charles Phillips, a business executive and a longtime backer. Before about 30 Black business leaders — a group with which she has tried to build particularly strong relationships — Ms. Harris spoke for roughly 40 minutes, without notes or a teleprompter, on economic topics including job creation, inflation and global trade, and then took questions.

Persons: Kamala Harris, William Ruto of, Harris, Charles Phillips, —, “, Mr, Phillips, ” Organizations: Democratic, Club Locations: Washington, William Ruto of Kenya, Midtown Manhattan

☆ Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe Are Masters of None in 2024 Race
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-20 | by ( Maureen Farrell | Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It’s a bad time to be a finance billionaire. Republicans on Wall Street, who had been largely coalescing around former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to return to office, suffered outright repudiation this week with his pick of Senator JD Vance of Ohio as a running mate. Mr. Vance, a harsh critic of corporate interests and a former venture capitalist, solidified a feeling in the world of high finance that the balance of power in the party had suddenly shifted westward to Silicon Valley. In choosing Mr. Vance, Mr. Trump brushed off personal entreaties from some of the Republican Party’s biggest donors. While accepting his nomination on Wednesday at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, he said the party was done “catering to Wall Street.”

Persons: Donald J, JD Vance, Vance, Trump, Marco Rubio, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott of, ” Organizations: Washington , D.C, Wall, Republican Locations: Washington ,, Ohio, Silicon Valley, Marco Rubio of Florida, North Dakota, Tim Scott of South Carolina, America, Milwaukee

☆ Goldman Sachs’s Revamp Takes Shape With Another Profit Haul
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-15 | by ( Rob Copeland | More About Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Goldman Sachs on Monday reported a hefty jump in its quarterly profits as the company continued its climb out of a self-inflicted morass. The elite investment bank, which paid dearly for a now-all-but-abandoned attempt to expand into Main Street products like checking accounts, said it took in $3 billion in the second quarter. Here’s what’s going on at Goldman Sachs — and what it means for the rest of Wall Street. How is Goldman faring? The bank made money virtually across its franchise, including in asset management, where Goldman has put its focus in recent months.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, what’s, Goldman Sachs —, Goldman

Stubborn inflation is taking a toll on the nation’s largest banks. On Friday, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo released earnings that were stuttered with indications that despite recent signs of cooling inflation, the economy continues to be a drag. The bank reported profit of $4.9 billion, down slightly from a year earlier, on revenue of $20.7 billion, up 1 percent from last year. On one hand, the nation’s largest bank pulled in $13.1 billion in profit, but it concurrently disclosed more than half a billion dollars in losses from having to offload sinking mortgage investments, among others. Overall results were bolstered by its investment banking and trading business, and a one time windfall from the sale of shares in Visa.

Persons: Wells, Wells Fargo’s, —, ”, Charles W, Scharf Organizations: JPMorgan Chase, Visa

☆ What Happens When Your Bank Isn’t Really a Bank and Your Money Disappears?
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-09 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For close to a century, putting your savings into a federally insured bank has been a sure thing: If the institution fails, up to $250,000 of your money will be protected. The promise of bank insurance — a tenet of U.S. consumer protection since the Great Depression — is now being tested by a crisis swirling around online-only lenders with hundreds of millions of dollars of deposits between them. Most depositors have little clue where their money has gone, and whether they will get any of it back. It operated banking software for fast-growing online lenders with names like Juno, Yieldstreet and Yotta. Their slick websites advertise insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. agency that pledges to pay back lost funds.

Persons: you’ve Organizations: Synapse Technology, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, U.S . Locations: U.S

☆ Banks Could Weather Even Extreme Economic Tumult, Fed Finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Rob Copeland | More About Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A severe spike in inflation. A plummet in the value of the dollar. The collapse of their biggest clients. The largest banks in America could survive even those dire economic scenarios, according to analysis released by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. The industry cleared the higher bars, with as close to a clean bill of health as its leaders might have hoped.

Organizations: Federal Reserve, Credit Suisse Locations: America

☆ Roaring Kitty Talked GameStop and Chugged Beer. Shares Plunged.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-07 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Around lunchtime Friday, on a YouTube livestream watched by half a million people, a bandanna-clad man in white sunglasses grinned into his webcam and teased: “I’m about to show it.”Oh, stop it. Keith Gill, the man better known as Roaring Kitty, who became one of Wall Street’s unlikeliest celebrities during the meme stock mania of 2021 before disappearing from public view, was onscreen — and in his signature fashion, mixing beer, comedy and market commentary. A quick refresher: Three years ago, Mr. Gill’s unrestrained cheerleading of GameStop and other companies on social media made him a kind of rabbi to thousands of day traders stuck at home during the pandemic — people who bought loads of shares and drove those stock prices to nosebleed levels. These traders’ use of internet memes and social platforms like Reddit to trade stock tips ushered in a new class of investors. He vaulted back into prominence last month by posting on X a cryptic illustration that many took as a sign that he had returned to day trading.

Persons: Keith Gill, Kitty, Gill, ” Organizations: YouTube, GameStop

☆ In About-Face, Wall Street’s Big Donors Warm to Trump
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When President Donald J. Trump left office, some of Wall Street’s biggest names, who had taken to him during his first term in the White House, swore they were moving on from him for good. They were fatigued by his leadership style, disappointed by some of his policies and shocked by the U.S. Capitol riot. With Mr. Trump leading in the polls, big financiers on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are edging into his corner, according to interviews with more than a dozen people who sought anonymity because they didn’t want their personal views to be tied to their employers. In other cases, the willingness to support a return of Mr. Trump reflects a growing dissatisfaction with what many big Wall Street donors see as the White House’s hardening stance against Israel in its war on Gaza. A prominent example of the about-face is Kenneth Griffin, a hedge fund magnate and political megadonor who publicly derided Mr. Trump as a “three-time loser” less than two years ago.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, didn’t, —, Biden, Kenneth Griffin, megadonor Organizations: U.S, Capitol, Israel, Citadel Locations: Wall, Silicon Valley, Gaza

☆ Billionaire Donor Assails Brown’s ‘Unconscionable’ Deal With Protesters
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One of Brown University’s major donors, the billionaire real estate mogul Barry Sternlicht, on Friday sharply criticized the school’s agreement to hold a board vote on cutting investments tied to Israel, calling it “unconscionable” and saying he had “paused” donations to the school. Brown is among a small number of universities that have agreed to discuss their investments in companies that do business in Israel, in order to persuade student protesters to dismantle encampments. It’s not education, it’s propaganda,” he wrote. Mr. Sternlicht, 63, said that no deal with protesters could be fruitful because the two sides did not agree on “facts and moral clarity,” as well as the scale of Israel’s invasion of Gaza after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack in which about 1,200 were killed and another 250 were taken hostage. Israel’s subsequent intense bombardment of the tightly-packed area has left more than 34,000 dead and drawn international condemnation.

Persons: Brown, Barry Sternlicht, ”, “, Sternlicht, Christina H, Paxson, Israel’s Organizations: New York Times, Israel Locations: Israel, Gaza

Brown’s agreement will let students make their case and then have the Brown Corporation, the university’s governing body, vote on the matter in October. But Dr. Paxson’s initial offer did not include bringing a divestment proposal to a vote. That came after two university negotiators and six students involved with the Brown Divest Coalition, one of the groups behind the movement, reached a deal on Tuesday, the university and several students said. The agreement immediately gave the university control of its facilities in time to allow students to finish classes and hold in-person graduation ceremonies and an alumni reunion this month. One donor, an investor who has made sizable contributions to the university and describes himself as a supporter of Israel, said members of the administration had assured him that Brown wouldn’t ultimately divest from Israel.

Persons: William A, Marc Rowan, Christina H, Paxson, Brown, Brown wouldn’t Organizations: Wall Street titans, Democratic Party, Republican, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Brown Corporation, Coalition Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ All New U.S. Cars Must Carry Automatic Brakes by 2029
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Rob Copeland | More About Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Starting in 2029, a new federal safety regulation will require all new cars and trucks in the United States to be sold with automatic emergency braking — sensors that hit the brakes to avoid a collision if the driver does not. The new rule, which was made final on Monday, imposes more stringent requirements than the automatic emergency braking technology now sold on most vehicles, and even goes past the point of present technological feasibility, automakers said. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration set a September 2029 date for compliance, saying it was confident that the systems would be ready by then. The system will also have to at least begin to apply the brakes at speeds up to 90 m.p.h. That’s higher than the maximum U.S. speed limit of 85 m.p.h.

Organizations: Traffic, Administration Locations: United States

☆ A Slimmer Goldman Sachs Posts Hefty Jump in Profit
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

What a difference a year makes at Goldman Sachs. The venerated Wall Street investment bank, which a year ago was in the throes of struggle after attempting to build a Main Street franchise, on Monday showed off the benefits of sticking to what it knows best. It earned nearly $4 billion in the first quarter — around $1 billion more than analysts expected — after reaping big profits in its trading and corporate advisory franchises. Its investment banking fees exceeded $2 billion in the first quarter, nearly one-third higher than the same period a year earlier. If it returns, Goldman is among the big banks in line to benefit.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, JPMorgan Chase Organizations: Wall, JPMorgan

☆ Dimon Warns of ‘Unsettling’ Pressures as JPMorgan Reports Earnings
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Rob Copeland | More About Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

His gloom, however, has also been consistently at odds with heady financial markets. In late 2022, for instance, he predicted economic bumps and, potentially, a severe recession for the next year; instead, the American economy boomed in 2023. Mr. Dimon has been among the few to say they are preparing for the possibility that interest rates will be raised again, a move that would suggest more extreme inflation than is currently being measured. Mr. Dimon made more extended remarks on the tricky environment in his annual letter to shareholders this week. JPMorgan also disclosed a fall in its so-called net interest income, a closely watched financial metric that essentially measures how much money it is able to make from lending.

Persons: Dimon, ” Organizations: Federal Reserve, JPMorgan Locations: United States, Ukraine

☆ The Worst Part of a Wall Street Career May Be Coming to an End
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Finessing the language on esoteric financial documents that may never be read by another soul. Such grunt work has long been a rite of passage in investment banking, an industry at the top of the corporate pyramid that lures thousands of young people every year with the promise of prestige and pay. Generative artificial intelligence — the technology upending many industries with its ability to produce and crunch new data — has landed on Wall Street. And investment banks, long inured to cultural change, are rapidly turning into Exhibit A on how the new technology could not only supplement but supplant entire ranks of workers. can do much of that work speedily and with considerably less whining.

☆ One Year After Bank Crisis, a Struggle Over What Needs to Change
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

They were forced into action after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10, 2023, quickly followed by two other lenders, First Republic and Signature Bank. Faced with the threat of a billowing crisis that could threaten the banking industry — the worst one since 2008 — rivals and regulators put together a huge bailout fund. Indeed, many bankers and their lobbyists now rush to describe the period as a regional banking crisis, a term that tends to understate how worried the industry was at the time. One reason for the increased tensions is that government officials are proposing rule changes that lenders argue will crimp their businesses, and would not have done much to stem Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse. In just a few days last March, Silicon Valley Bank went from a darling of the banking world to collapse.

Organizations: First, Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank Locations: Silicon

☆ New York Community Bank Raises $1 Billion in Emergency Cash
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New York Community Bank, the midsize lender under pressure over its real estate loans and internal management, announced an overhaul on Wednesday that included more than $1 billion in emergency cash, the addition of former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to its board and the appointment of its third chief executive in a month. The investment of more than $1 billion includes cash from Mr. Mnuchin’s private equity firm, Liberty Strategic Capital, and Kenneth Griffin’s Citadel Global Equities, among others. The bank’s new chief executive, Joseph Otting, worked closely with Mr. Mnuchin in the past. He ran OneWest Bank, then owned by Mr. Mnuchin, for five years. He also oversaw the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, one of the banking industry’s primary regulators, during the Trump administration.

Persons: Steven Mnuchin, Kenneth Griffin’s, Joseph Otting, Mnuchin, Trump Organizations: York Community Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, Liberty Strategic Capital, Global, OneWest Bank, Mr Locations: Washington, Silicon

☆ Bank Runs Spooked Regulators. Now a Clampdown Is Coming.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Jeanna Smialek | Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One year after a series of bank runs threatened the financial system, government officials are preparing to unveil a regulatory response aimed at preventing future meltdowns. After months of floating fixes at conferences and in quiet conversations with bank executives, the Federal Reserve and other regulators could unveil new rules this spring. The interagency clampdown would come on top of another set of proposed and potentially costly regulations that have caused tension between big banks and their regulators. Taken together, the proposed rules could further rankle the industry. The goal of the new policies would be to prevent the kind of crushing problems and bank runs that toppled Silicon Valley Bank and a series of other regional lenders last spring.

Organizations: Federal Reserve, Bank Locations: Silicon

☆ New York Community Bank Reports $2.4 Billion More in Losses as C.E.O. Resigns
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

They sent the bank’s already pressured shares into another nosedive, down more than 20 percent in after-hours trading. The ugly developments were the last thing NYCB needed after weeks of trying to assuage investors’ concerns about its financial health. Despite its name, the bank has a national presence, partly because of its acquisition of much of Signature Bank, which collapsed during last year’s banking crisis. Based on Long Island, NYCB operates more than 400 branches under brands including Flagstar Bank across the Midwest and elsewhere. Flagstar is one of the nation’s largest residential mortgage servicers, making the bank particularly at risk to any weakness in the housing market in an era of persistently elevated interest rates.

Persons: NYCB Organizations: York Community Bank, Signature Bank, Flagstar Bank Locations: Long, NYCB, Midwest

☆ Big Dreams Come Back to Bite New York Community Bank
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Rob Copeland | Emily Flitter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

During last spring’s banking crisis, when a competing lender went under, New York Community Bank pounced, acquiring a big chunk of its business. The pain stems largely from a weakening commercial real estate market that impelled NYCB — which operates more than 400 branches under brands including Flagstar Bank — to admit to mounting losses. After the bank rushed to project stability, including by releasing a new set of financial disclosures on Tuesday evening that one analyst termed a “late night news dump,” shares rose 7 percent on Wednesday. Whether its efforts will stick is an open question. NYCB executives, who just a week ago had been tight-lipped about the bank’s finances, opened up the books on Wednesday and laid out turnaround plans on a public conference call.

Persons: Flagstar Bank — Organizations: New York Community Bank pounced, Flagstar Bank, Signature Bank

☆ New York Community Bancorp, Winner in Last Year’s Crisis, Takes a Hit
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Rob Copeland | More About Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Less than a year ago, New York Community Bancorp looked like one of the big beneficiaries of a crisis among its peers when it swooped in to take over most of the assets of ailing Signature Bank and catapulted to over $100 billion in assets. Its stock plummeted 38 percent to a 25-year low, dragging down shares of other regional banks 6 percent on average. New York Community Bancorp tried to put a brave face on the news — an accompanying release included the headline “Record Results for 2023,” true inasmuch as the bank is now much larger than before the Signature acquisition — but analysts and investors quickly zeroed in the weaknesses. It was an uneasy reminder of last March’s tumult, when problems at Silicon Valley Bank spilled over into the industry, felling among others Signature, a bank known for its real estate, legal and cryptocurrency lending. New York Community Bancorp bought much of Signature out of federal receivership.

Organizations: New York Community Bancorp, Signature Bank, Bank Locations: Silicon

☆ Citi Is Sued by New York State Over Account Transfer Fraud
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Rob Copeland | More About Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New York State’s attorney general sued Citi on Tuesday, accusing it of failing to stop scammers from stealing an unspecified amount of money from customer accounts, and saying the bank should reimburse fraud victims for any losses. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, laid out a variety of ways in which Citi clients had been fooled into disclosing sensitive information that let hackers gain access to their accounts and steal millions of dollars. In what are known as phishing scams, some of the cases involved Citi’s customers receiving text messages or emails that purported to be from Citi but were really from criminals. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, said that Citi should have been suspicious when large transfers were requested from customer accounts that had not had such activities for decades — and that only minutes before had their passwords changed. Citi later denied her request to be reimbursed, saying it was her fault for clicking on the scammer’s message.

Persons: Letitia James Organizations: Citi, New Locations: York, New York

☆ A Famed Analyst’s Final Forecast Is the Fall of the U.S. Economy
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Over his 54 years as a financial analyst, Richard X. Bove perfected the art of grabbing attention. Through thousands of newspaper interviews, cable news appearances and radio segments, Mr. Bove turned what can be a dull, by-the-numbers career into a more showy one. In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Bove (pronounced “boe-VAY”), who goes by Dick, shared a dire outlook on the U.S. economy and his former profession. Many analysts are rewarded for coming up with unique but inconsequential and “arcane” ideas, he said, peppering his criticism with profanities. Mr. Bove worked at 17 brokerage firms during his career.

Persons: Richard X, Bove, ”, “ boe, VAY, Dick, Mr Organizations: Banker, Bloomberg, The New York Times Locations: U.S, Tampa, China

☆ Jamie Dimon Reshuffles Management Team at JPMorgan
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Rob Copeland | More About Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

JPMorgan Chase is reshuffling its leadership team, a move that many consider a succession plan even though its longtime chief executive, Jamie Dimon, has signaled he’s staying put. Mr. Dimon, 67, has been head of what is now the largest bank in the United States for nearly two decades, and repeatedly brushed off suggestions that he might step aside. It said that Daniel Pinto, the bank’s chief operating officer and Mr. Dimon’s deputy, would no longer handle the bank’s daily operations. Ms. Piepszak, who co-heads JPMorgan’s massive consumer banking business, has long been seen as a potential candidate for the top job. Mr. Rohrbaugh had been one of the co-heads of the bank’s markets and securities business.

Persons: JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, he’s, Dimon, Daniel Pinto, Dimon’s, Pinto, ” Mr, Pinto’s, Jennifer Piepszak, Troy Rohrbaugh, Piepszak, Rohrbaugh Organizations: JPMorgan Locations: United States

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