US banks have started to announce their results for Q4 2014, revealing a large hit to balance sheets from legal expenses with JPMorgan Chase spending $1.1bn and Citigroup $2.9bn, just in the three months to 31 December 2014.
Guest post: Christmas comes early – SFO scores 1st Bribery Act convictions
The SFO has successfully prosecuted its first series of Bribery Act convictions. On Friday the SFO reported that ‘Gary Lloyd West, former Director and Chief Commercial Officer of SAE, James Brunel Whale, former Director, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of SGG and Stuart John Stone, Director of SJ Stone Ltd, a sales agent of unregulated pension and investment products, were convicted of [a number of offences including] Bribery Act 2010 offences at Southwark Crown Court.’
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Q&A: A&O capital markets co-heads talk innovative solutions and sharing leadership
Six months on from being elected co-heads of Allen & Overy’s (A&O) capital markets global team, David Benton and Simon Hill (pictured) talk about market confidence, current focuses and how Peerpoint is a big part of their future with Legal Business.
The king is dead – hunting out the new breed of dealmakers in banking lawyers sights
The veteran deal bankers have moved on and there’s a new pecking order with US banks and credit funds staking their position in Europe’s leveraged finance market. Legal Business assesses the debt professionals that lawyers want on their speed dial.
‘The crisis hit and Paul de Rome, who was then head of leveraged finance at Citibank, said: “You’ve got to shoot someone – I’ll fall on my sword – take me down.” It was a pure sign of class I thought. He was 50. He’d made his money, and was letting the young ones keep their jobs. Looking back I realise the reason Paul was such a successful old dog was because he knew it was just the first stage of the crisis. When he got shot, all his shares vested and he’s currently a partner in private equity firm EQT, which is THE place to move to.’
Guest post: If your anti-bribery policy is more than three pages, it probably won’t work
Three years ago Bribery Inc. went mad. Every law firm, accounting firm and uncle Tom Cobley and all got into the anti-bribery business. Many detailed anti-bribery policies were sold, placed on corporate intranets and training given.
‘Ahead of the curve’: Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance act on UK government’s landmark renminbi bond issue
Magic Circle firms Allen & Overy (A&O) and Clifford Chance have advised on the UK’s renminbi debut bond issue, the first for a non-Chinese sovereign and signalling the first steps of China’s currency internationalising.
The $50m question – will Akin Gump’s record-breaking City acquisition pay off?
There was a rushed engagement before the union and there is unlikely to be a long honeymoon for the 26 Bingham McCutchen partners, including ten financial restructuring partners, switching to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld later this month. Such is the size of the investment the Dallas-bred giant has made, with the total number of lawyers set to transfer across London, Hong Kong and Frankfurt expected to reach around 60, the team led by financial restructuring guru James Roome will have to hit the ground running when they transfer in late October. This is, after all, a team with around $50m in annual revenue, by some yardsticks the largest team hire ever executed in the Square Mile.
The move, which Legal Business first revealed online in early September, shifts virtually all of Bingham’s London arm, minus two partners whose futures are undecided.
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Offshore firms join in as Cleary and Clifford Chance lead on Rusal’s $5.15bn debt restructuring
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Clifford Chance picked up the lead roles along with a raft of offshore firms as Russian aluminum giant Rusal carried out a $5.15bn debt restructuring following a slower than expected recovery in the commodities market.
Financial mis-selling in Ireland and the importance of knowing the consumer
MARKET VIEW – LITIGATION
John O’Riordan of Dillon Eustace explains what advisers should bear in mind
There has been a significant increase in recent years in the number of claims relating to the alleged mis-selling of financial products to consumers in Ireland. These claims have been varied in their nature but essentially they have a common theme, the sale of an unsuitable financial product to a customer, on the basis of incorrect and/or misleading advice.
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Ropes & Gray loses high yield partner Bloom as Jones Day builds capital markets practice
High-yield expert Jonathan Bloom has quit Ropes & Gray after five years to join rival US firm Jones Day’s London office in a bid to develop the firm’s high yield practice.