The investment bank Merrill Lynch is being sued by one of its former traders who claims
Posted in General on 21. Oct, 2010
The investment bank Merrill Lynch is being sued by one of its former traders who claims that two bonus payments with a combined worth of nearly £500,000 were too low.
Stephen Fairholme is claiming breach of contract against the bank, who employed him in 1999 on annual salary of £91,000, profit-related pay of £4,000, and bonuses.He claims that his work as a senior trader in South African equities earned the American bank £9.8m by January 2000, and he should have been given a bonus of about £1m.Instead Mr Fairholme, of Notting Hill, London, received £252,000, which he claims was so far below the norm for City payouts that he was “unfairly treated by comparison with his peers”. Last year, ZFS sought to bolster its financial strength by raising $5bn from disposals.Credit Suisse is now the only Swiss financial services group to retain the joint role of chief executive and chairman.. He oversaw an expansion drive that included the purchases of British American Tobacco’s financial services operations and Scudder Investments, but which left the balance sheet stretched. He has been chief executive since 1991 and chairman since 1995. Two new chief operating officers for business development and finance take up their positions next month.Mr H?, 58, joined ZFS in 1963 and was appointed to the board 20 years later. Constantine Iordanou, formerly head of ZFS’s US business and perceived as an heir apparent to Mr H?, left in December.
Mr Gluckstern, who had been in the position only 16 months, wanted “to pursue other interests outside the group”.The moves follow several other recent senior management changes. The company also appointed David Wasserman as the new head of its asset management operations, replacing Steven Gluckstern in the wake of the divestment of ZFS’s Scudder business to Deutsche Bank. “They wanted H? to go altogether.”A new chief executive has yet to be appointed, although Mr H? is to remain chief executive until the “middle” of this year. but it is only half of what investors wanted,” said Charles Coyne, an analyst at WestLB Panmure. ZFS shares have fallen 60 per cent over the last year.”This is good news … They later closed down 1 per cent after the Swiss insurance regulator voiced concern over the health of ZFS’s finances following the falls in global equity markets in the wake of 11 September.
In December he said the group was heading for a £276m loss, against expectations of a £1.2bn profit, putting himself under renewed pressure to abandon his dual-role position.Shares in ZFS, which vacated the London stock market in 2000 and remain quoted in Zurich, rallied on news of Mr H?’s change of role. Zurich Financial Services, Europe’s number three insurer, pleased its shareholders yesterday with news that Rolf H?, the chairman and chief executive, would scale back his responsibilities and move to be chairman only.
Mr H? has angered investors with a series of profit warnings and disappointing financial results. I feel for him.” The Cabinet backed Mr Howard’s stance, but the opposition Labor Party renewed its call for Dr Hollingworth to go.. “I’ve thought long and hard, and nothing has changed that view,” he said “It’s a difficult issue.