Better Informed in just 3.1416 minutes

Get the daily email that makes learning about current tech and coding trends fun. Stay engaged and on top of your industry, for free.

Subscribe Now

In the competition for top talent, banks have pumped lots of money into starting salaries, but to woo future bankers Citi is betting on beautiful beaches and actual happy hours. Yesterday, 27 Citigroup analysts kicked off the bank’s new two-year program that is supposed to prioritize work–life balance for employees in the Spanish city of Málaga.

The program promises eight-hour days M–F, a stark contrast with most Wall Street newbies’ grueling 24/7 work schedules. On the downside, the Málaga analysts make about half the $100k salary of their counterparts in traditional analyst roles. Still, 3,000+ people applied for the program.

Taking on burnout: If we had a dollar for every article roasting investment banks for working their junior bankers too hard, we’d have…a senior banker’s salary. But the criticism heated up last year when a leaked slide deck revealed how the 95-hour workweeks of Goldman Sachs first-year analysts were taking serious mental and physical tolls.

Still, the banking landscape isn’t all blue skies and beach views right now. Goldman Sachs is planning layoffs, and JPMorgan said investment banking fees could fall 50% this quarter.—MM

The post New Citigroup Málaga program will prioritize work–life balance for junior bankers appeared first on Buzz Badger.

Better Informed in just 3.1416 minutes

Get the daily email that makes learning about current tech and coding trends fun. Stay engaged and on top of your industry, for free.

Subscribe Now

Legislators are worried about your Frenchie, and not just because he hates his new sweater. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday that prevents online pet stores from offering financing for pet sales, a widespread practice that’s trapping pet owners in loans that sometimes end up tripling the cost of their dog, according to the Washington Post.

Some pet stores and online retailers use high-interest loans and leasing agreements that tout low monthly payments and target hopeful pet parents without great credit. One financing company that frequently works with pet stores, EasyPay, says it helps out customers who wouldn’t normally be able to afford the Shih Tzu of their dreams…with a 199% interest rate.

• One elderly couple told the Post that after agreeing to a loan for a $4,595 chihuahua puppy, they realized it would end up costing them almost $20,000 after interest.

Legislators are watching…California isn’t the only state that wants to get rid of the pet price gougers. Eleven other states have banned pet financing, but the current patchwork of regulations makes it impossible to end the practice entirely. At the federal level, a national interest rate cap has been proposed, but it’s currently in congressional limbo.

In the meantime, some states have banned dog- and other pet sales entirely, considering adoption better for both pets and humans.—MM

The post Legislators are trying to ban predatory pet financing appeared first on Buzz Badger.

Better Informed in just 3.1416 minutes

Get the daily email that makes learning about current tech and coding trends fun. Stay engaged and on top of your industry, for free.

Subscribe Now

Swiss bank Credit Suisse was no angel thanks to numerous missteps and a high-profile corporate spying scandal, but the internet decided this weekend to brand the firm with a big scarlet D: The bank’s credit default swaps (CDS)—a security that reflects how much default risk the market sees—surged yesterday after rumors spread throughout the trading floor that the bank was short on cash.

Now, social media is ablaze with hot takes that suggest we’re looking at Lehman Brothers 2.0.

Don’t start spiraling tho. Most experts have pointed out that yes, Credit Suisse’s rapid CDS jump does mean investors think the firm has a higher probability of defaulting on its loans. But if you zoom out a little, that probability is still very low.

How did we get here? Record high inflation + the Fed’s rate-hike-a-palooza + Credit Suisse’s less-than-stellar performance this year = investors on edge. So when execs tried to do damage control by asserting that “everything’s all good over here!” it just made everyone freak out more.

Looking ahead…the bank is expected to make a restructuring announcement on October 27 that will address its plans for coming back from epic blunders like the $5.5 billion loss it sustained when client Archegos Capital collapsed last year.—MM

The post Fears that Credit Suisse could collapse are giving investors 2008 flashbacks appeared first on Buzz Badger.

Better Informed in just 3.1416 minutes

Get the daily email that makes learning about current tech and coding trends fun. Stay engaged and on top of your industry, for free.

Subscribe Now

I see accredited people.

Mastercard crashed the crypto party this week when it announced a program to help financial institutions offer crypto trading. It’s the latest push from payments processors to bring traditional, “centralized” finance giants into the crypto space—and for blockchain fundamentalists, they’re unwelcome guests.

• Visa teamed up with crypto exchange FTX last week to roll out crypto debit cards in 40 countries.

This big bank invasion is a vibe killer for crypto enthusiasts who want to keep the space as “decentralized” as possible. Operating independently of centralized institutions—including banks that handle transactions—is literally in many definitions of both “cryptocurrency” and “blockchain.” And an entire sub sector has sprung up to defend this ideal vision, called decentralized finance (DeFi).

In fact, bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, was created in reaction to the mass failure of banks during the 2008 financial crisis. Its original purpose was to facilitate internet transactions without involving banks or other financial intermediaries.

That’s all to say that using a crypto-loaded Visa to shop the Reformation sale online is like eating soup with a lollipop. It works, sure, but it’s kinda weird.

Then there’s the ice cream soup of arguments

Skeptics argue that the fully decentralized dream is about as realistic as good-tasting candy corn (don’t @ me), and that getting major financial institutions involved is key to crypto going Ed Sheeran-level mainstream.

These TradFi (traditional finance) believers have gotten louder over the past year, as crypto’s version of a recession, a “crypto winter,” has set in. Major cryptocurrencies’ prices are way down from their 2021 peaks, while high-profile crypto companies have made layoffs, filed for bankruptcy, and straight-up collapsed. “That volatility is what will drive consumers to feel safer with established financial institutions,” Melody Brue, a fintech analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told Protocol.

Looking ahead…If banks do decide to take advantage of Mastercard’s crypto integrations, they’ll be going head-to-head with crypto exchanges like Coinbase.—JW

*Note: A previous version of the story incorrectly stated that American Express has been plotting a move into stablecoins. That sentence has been removed.

The post Mastercard builds a bridge between crypto and banks appeared first on Buzz Badger.

Better Informed in just 3.1416 minutes

Get the daily email that makes learning about current tech and coding trends fun. Stay engaged and on top of your industry, for free.

Subscribe Now

It may be the most wonderful time of the year but it’s also…Q4 layoff time. The latest: Goldman Sachs is planning to lay off as many as 4,000 employees, or roughly 8% of its workforce, Semafor reported yesterday.

Goldman Sachs also plans to trim or fully cut some employees’ year-end bonuses—which on Wall Street are a lot more than a $50 gift card to Macaroni Grill. Getting no bonus is called being “zeroed out” and is considered a strong nudge to quit.

Even so, Goldman Sachs’s workforce (currently 49,000) will remain bigger than it was before the pandemic (38,000). The bank hired aggressively in 2020 and 2021 while also suspending layoffs and buoying bonuses.

What’s changed? Deal-making, Goldman Sachs’s specialty, was more hyperactive than a seven-year-old chugging Mountain Dew during the pandemic, but has slowed this year. A lot. Just 74 companies IPOed in the US in 2022, the smallest number since 2009, per Axios.

Zoom out: Goldman Sachs may be getting hit especially hard because it’s more dependent on the fees it earns off deals than its Wall Street rivals. Still, Morgan Stanley laid off about 1,600 employees, or 2% of its workforce, earlier this month, and Citigroup and Barclays are also planning smaller cuts.—JW

The post Goldman Sachs reportedly plans to lay off thousands appeared first on Buzz Badger.