Big Law M&A work slumps; volatility funds shine; Goldman picks teams
Welcome to Wall Street Insider, where we take you behind the scenes of the finance team's biggest scoops and deep dives from the past week.
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Blue team, white team - go
Cboe and CME are clearing their trading floors to limit large gatherings. Barclays and Intercontinental Exchange were among the latest firms with confirmed coronavirus cases. And Goldman leaders this week sent a memo detailing the bank's own coronavirus response.
With dealmakers forced to hunker down and limit travel as coronavirus spreads, we're already starting to see how these measures are hurting business.
As Casey Sullivan reports, major US law firms are experiencing a dropoff in deal work, with practice areas such as M&A and other corporate work seen as particularly vulnerable. "People want to look you in the eyes before they sell a company to you," one insider said. The malaise could lead financially strong firms to poach from weaker ones, with clear winners and losers emerging from the turmoil, recruiters and consultants said.
Read the full story here:
With Big Law M&A work evaporating as coronavirus spreads, some firms are about to make bank. Here are the winners and losers.
Vol, macro strategies shine
Artemis Capital's flagship Vega Fund fell more than 13% last year when the markets churned relentlessly higher. But the volatility-linked fund is now in its element, Bradley Saacks reports, as markets have been thrashed by the quickly spreading coronavirus and a glut of oil supply that's sent crude oil prices tumbling.
It shows how some hedge funds are getting a chance to finally shake off years of uninspiring returns and woo back investors that had been getting fed up with hefty fees.
Read the full story here:
Business is booming for certain types of hedge funds as coronavirus rocks markets. These 6 have returned as much as 14% with bets focused on volatility and macro trends.
SigFig's rise and stall
SigFig has raised some $120 million in funding from the likes of DCM Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures and signed partnerships with industry giants with the promise of powering wealth-tech. But in recent months, a string of execs and other employees have left, 10% of its workforce was cut, and wealth deal growth has slowed since it partnered with UBS and Wells Fargo four years ago.
Rebecca Ungarino spoke with a dozen sources who described the Silicon Valley startup's rise and more recent struggles to compete in a crowded space.
Read the full story here:
SigFig raised $120 million on the promise of reinventing investing, but hasn't announced a big partnership in years. Here's how it went from deals with UBS and Wells Fargo to struggling to compete.
JPMorgan embraces fintech with RPOC
JPMorgan's corporate and investment bank has implemented a new program to quickly make assessments on fintechs it's looking to work with. Dan DeFrancesco talked with Michael Elanjian, head of digital innovation at JPMorgan's CIB, about how the bank is aiming to cut down the average time and money needed to evaluate startups.
As Wall Street looks to work with startups now more than ever - either through partnerships, investment, mentorship or as a customer - all are interested in speeding up the selection process.
Read the full story here:
JPMorgan slashed how long it takes to test out fintechs from 9 months to 3 weeks with a new process that could save it millions as it looks to buy, invest in, or work with more young companies
Snowflake's Wall Street data play
As Bradley and Dan report, a new product from one of the hottest tech startups is geared toward addressing a major need for Wall Street, and its execs believe it will lead to big business for a company that has already proved wildly successful.
Snowflake, the cloud-data platform last valued at $12.4 billion, is in the early stages of signing up customers for a data exchange where providers can connect with the consumers in a marketplace hosted and managed by the startup.
Read the full story here:
$12.4 billion startup Snowflake is targeting Wall Street with a new data exchange that's already signed up FactSet and Coatue
How RE/MAX is looking for a tech edge in a fierce battle for agents
RE/Max, like other brokerages, is racing to keep up with Compass, which has grown from roughly 2000 agents at the beginning of 2018 to 15,000 by the end of last year. Compass, flush with cash from SoftBank, acquired CRM provider Contactually in February 2019. and has used its technology as a tool to recruit agents from other brokerages.
As Alex Nicoll explains, RE/MAX has acquired tech providers and brought its tech fully in-house, while other competitors partner with external tech providers.
Read the full story here:
Real estate giant RE/MAX is spending tens of millions on tech to keep up with Compass. Here's its M&A playbook.
On the move
Bank of America's CTO, who played a key part in a private-cloud strategy execs praised for saving billions, has left the bank. And a veteran Wells Fargo Advisors exec who helped navigate sweeping regulatory changes to the wealth industry just retired.
More highlights from the finance team:
- We spoke with the CEO of DoorDash after the food-delivery giant filed for an IPO - here's how he feels about the competition, coronavirus, and going public
- Why Goldman Sachs analysts think Morgan Stanley's stock will be Wall Street's big winner if a full-blown coronavirus recession strikes
- CME and Cboe are clearing trading floors as coronavirus spreads, and one veteran trader thinks the millions they'll save will be too good to ever reopen the iconic pits
- A Morgan Stanley exec gave us an inside look at its new VC partnership program aimed at helping fintechs pitch the Wall Street giant
- People are rethinking daily habits like touching dirty dollar bills as coronavirus spreads. This could be the catalyst that finally triggers the US to tap their phones to pay.
- SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 pumped $100 million into Behavox - and the startup's CEO says that's twice what he was looking for
- Massive hedge fund Bridgewater just made an $11.8 billion bet against giant European companies like Bayer, Santander, and Adidas as the coronavirus spread has Italy on lockdown
- Robinhood is still trying to figure out what caused its latest outage, which crippled the stock-trading app during a historic day for markets
- Managed by Q just slashed most of its remaining staff after WeWork unloaded the business at a massive discount