ICIS Blogs : merrill lynch

LyondellBasell may be largest-ever bankruptcy

Chemicals & The Economy — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:44:53 GMT

The financial fallout from the Lyondell (LBI) bankruptcy continues, as the banks slowly begin to acknowledge their losses. According to Bloomberg , Len Blavatnik (Access Industries chairman) "didn't put any of his firm's money toward buying...(read more)

And then there were none

Chemicals & The Economy — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:10:58 GMT

20 years of investment banking as an independent activity came to an end on Wall Street last night . Bear Stearns was the first to go in March , rescued by JPMorgan. Last week Lehman failed, and Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America. Now the two...(read more)

Lehman goes bust, Merrill rescued

Chemicals & The Economy — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:09:52 GMT

The blog has never liked disaster movies, but it was quite a weekend for those who do. First, there was the hurricane hitting Houston and Texas. I used to live in Houston, and watching the pictures of the damage, could recognise familiar places washed...(read more)

$514bn and counting

Chemicals & The Economy — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:50:48 GMT

There seems no end to the losses being revealed by the world's major banks. The total has now reached $514bn . 110 banks and investment firms have now posted writedowns. CitiGroup, the largest US bank, tops the list with $55.1bn of losses, closely...(read more)

Hard times for the banking jet-set

ICIS Chemicals Confidential — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:05:42 GMT

Hard on the heels of the news this week about chemical private jets being impounded , there is more bad news on the flying front. My fellow blogger Paul Hodges in his Chemicals and the Economy blog has spotted that things are now so tough in the banking...(read more)

Merrill cuts back on private jets

Chemicals & The Economy — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 07:44:28 GMT

I suppose when an industry has lost $400bn in a year, some sacrifices have to be made. In May, I documented how Deutsche Bank was no longer approving expense claims for ' adult entertainment' . Well, things have got worse since then, as the losses...(read more)

Deutsche Bank ends porn channel expenses

Chemicals & The Economy — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:38:13 GMT

Spare a thought for the plight of the world’s investment bankers. According to the Financial Times, some minor cutbacks are finally taking place in the extravagant lifestyle to which they have come accustomed: • UBS, having lost $11bn in Q1 , has now...(read more)