Word: cantors
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...sure, Cantor hasn't escaped the biggest financial meltdown in decades unscathed. The firm was a prominent player in the trading of credit default swaps, and that market for bond insurance has been battered by the rising defaults in home loans and other debts. Worse, some politicians and regulators, irked by the huge losses rung up by AIG in CDS contracts, have talked about creating a central exchange, much like the New York Stock Exchange, where the bond insurance would trade. Some have proposed doing away with CDS all together. Those changes would significantly curtail, or wipe out, Cantor...
...unlike its much larger financial rivals, Cantor never made home loans. It trades mortgage bonds, but never held onto bundles of those bonds hoping to make a big profit. That means Cantor has not had to suffer the same credit crunch that its larger rivals have been struggling with for more than six months as many of those loans or bonds have gone bad. Many firms have had to pull back from some trading businesses, or go out of business all together...
...result, Cantor has been able to pick up clients, giving a big boost to its bottom line. Lutnick says his firm made more money in 2008 than ever before. He won't say how much, and since Cantor is private he doesn't have to. BGC, because it is publicly traded, does have to release its results, and officially that division lost $30 million. But exclude a one-time charge, and BGC profits come in at $105 million in 2008, up from $58 million in the year before. Analyst Michael Adams who follows BGC for brokerage firm Sandler O'Neill...
...past year, Cantor has hired 200 people, upping the payroll to just over 3,500 employees across all its divisions. It hopes to hire another 200 staffers in 2009. Cantor has been able to lure traders, bankers and analysts away from much larger firms in part by doing away with one of Wall Street's oldest traditions - the year-end bonus. Instead, Cantor is offering to pay most of its new employees in full each month, rather than holding a good chunk of their pay until the end of the year. "There is just too much variability in year...
...firm is taking advantage of the crisis to expand into more areas of investment banking. Teevan has hired 35 people since joining Cantor, with an eye toward building out its high-yield-debt sales and trading business. Other areas Cantor is looking to for expansion include the business of offering advice to troubled companies on how to refinance their debt. The firm is also hoping to break into the business of underwriting stock and bond offerings. "I am very happy I made the move to Cantor," says Teevan. "This place has been rebuilt and it is thriving...