William Cohan: The Investment Banking Profession As We Know It Is Over

Bloomberg:

We are witnessing the decline and fall of the investment-banking profession as we have known it for the past 40 years.

The evidence is everywhere. The increasing regulations on Wall Street -- as required by the Dodd-Frank law and still being written by the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and others agencies in the U.S. and Europe -- will require the remaining companies to increase their capital, curb their risk- taking and reduce their principal investing.

Read the whole story: Bloomberg

Comments

[rdk70816]

06:20 PM on 12/27/2011

Are they now the world's oldest profession?

[McKMN]

06:12 PM on 12/27/2011

"Needless to say, the inevitable decline in Wall Street’s compensation will mean less tax revenue for New York City and New York State and fewer government services for the rest of us (absent higher taxes)."

Oh really? Well, let me be the first to extend a warm welcome from the rest of the country.

[Captain Hindsight]

02:46 PM on 12/27/2011

Wasn't it Jamie Dimon that said the 1% ers were "Producers", and the 99% should stop picking on them?
Wasn't "The Producers" a play about fraud and investor scams?
Hey Jamie! Your Freudian Slip is showing!

[kamact]

01:24 PM on 12/27/2011

This is misinformation,...The Federal Reserve is actually a TBTF bankers' cartel,...which would NEVER do anything that would be materially negative to these banking entities,....They just want you to believe that they have,....Then it's business as usual,...financial terrorism on most Americans,...

[Miss Muffett]

02:10 PM on 12/27/2011

I thought it was pretty shady the way the author tried to pretend the Fed was actually going to regulate the banks and financial institutions its supposed to. If anything, Dodd Frank has already been a bust and relying on the Fed to interpret the legislation in a way that transforms into meaningful, impactful reform is a pipe dream.

[missprissanna]

01:09 PM on 12/27/2011

The working class has had to adjust to the new normal of their jobs disappearing never to return, working harder for less with no benefits, IF they can even find work....why should investment bankers be immune to the same changes?

[marka]

12:29 PM on 12/27/2011

If these changes really mean that the excesses of investment banking will be curbed, I am all for it. Greed had overcome good sense in that industry.

[MrSarcasm]

11:54 AM on 12/27/2011

As if...

[Kenz300]

11:50 AM on 12/27/2011

The collapse was in 2007 and they a just laying people off now.

What a joke.

[Barbarian At The Gate]

11:17 AM on 12/27/2011

The shake up will chase out the unscrupulous. No one will miss them.

[Realist2011]

10:33 AM on 12/27/2011

Wait, you mean Wall Street is actually going to be forced into having a sustainable business model, one that actually prudently invests for their customers' benefit? Good lord, what is this world coming to when a bunch of criminals can't even destroy a country's economy.

When I see Wall Street firms buildings being rented to "real" businesses that hire and produce a product, the transformation will complete. I do not mourn the death of what should never have existed.

[McKMN]

06:19 PM on 12/27/2011

Right, I'll check again at work, but I haven't seen any listings for 'unsupervised speculator" jobs so far.

[Realist2011]

06:41 PM on 12/27/2011

You're looking under the wrong category. Try "unscrupulous speculators". Although not a lot of positions right now on Wall Street. We can only hope that the CEO's of the banks and Wall Street will continue to destroy their companies from the inside like Corzine, as there will never be any meaningful regulation from the outside.

The idea that Wall Street is regulated is a smoke and mirrors trick thought up by Wall Street and their "marketing department" at the SEC.

[blueken60]

10:06 AM on 12/27/2011

It just blows my mind that this article says nothing about trust? Who in their right mind trusts these crooks with there money? Doesn't that have any impact? Why is this never mentioned. People still have to save for retirement. People still look for investments. I would never give my money to the major investment banks. Those people have proven themselves to be un-trustworthy. Doesn't that slow down the flow of money into these companies?