Morning Coffee: HSBC's richest ex-banker survived a tragedy aged 23. Wild spending on banks' new offices
What is it that drives someone to earn tens of millions and then give half of it away? In the case of John Studzinski, the former HSBC and then Blackstone Advisory Partners banker, it's the echoes of a terrible accident 46 years ago.
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Studzinski is now a spry 69, but when he was 23 he was in a car accident on the German autobahn, where nine other people died. He lost a lung, broke three ribs, fractured a shoulder in four places and an arm in 35. “There’s no time to waste,’’ Studzinski tells the Times.
He's spent his time in banking. 69-years-old, Studzinski is vice chairman of Pimco. He gets up at 4am every day. He never married, and has no children. He began his career at Morgan Stanley, moved to HSBC - where he allegedly had a budget of $400m to build out the investment bank between 2003 and 2005, and then ran Blackstone's advisory arm for nearly a decade.
Choosing a demanding banking career may seem strange for a man with a strong sense of mortality, but Studzinski - who says he "felt cradled by God or his angels" while he nearly died on the autobahn, says banking is his calling. "Serendipity" led him to Morgan Stanley: "I had no interest in finance and Wall Street – it just so happened that one day someone offered me an interview at Morgan Stanley. The interview went very well, and so they offered me a placement." He's gone from there.
Studzinski, who is Catholic, considered being a priest, but Pope John Paul II, said he'd be more useful to the church and to his faith if he pursued his calling in financial services. He gives half his money away and has written a book on philanthropy, which he defines as giving money to a cause you believe in. “It’s a reciprocal, powerful experience. You need to get more out of it than just giving money, there needs to be a quid pro quo, because personally it can be deeply enriching."
In an interview in 2018, Studzinski said he keeps working because the more he earns, the more he can give away. Asset allocation is important, and assets are threefold: Talent, time, and treasure. "Not everyone has treasure, but everyone has talent – they just have to realize it – and we all have time," he reflected.
Separately, five years after the contagion of homeworking, banks are throwing money at renovating offices. After Reuters reported at the weekend that Citi's Canary Wharf office renovation will cost $1.5bn, Bloomberg is now reporting that Barclays' renovation of its 745 Seventh Avenue tower in New York will cost $1bn.
What is the money being spent on? In the case of Barclays, it's reportedly new trading floors, updated technology and new and undefined amenities. It's a reminder that offices are a very expensive business, and that banks are going to want people to occupy them.
Meanwhile...
Stephen Miran is poised to join the Fed’s board of governors. Two years ago his finance career floundered when Amberwave, a hedge fund he'd founded, struggled to raise funds. “I’m never going to claim to be the smartest person in the room. I’m happy to be the most annoying person in the room." (WSJ)
Trump wants to end quarterly earnings reports. “This will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies.” (WSJ)
Bank of America is creating up to 1,000 jobs in Belfast. (RTE)
RBC hired Rich Duffield, who spent 17 years at Citi as its New York based head of equity-linked origination. (Bloomberg)
Amedeo Scippacercola joined Deutsche Bank in London from Mizuho as a European government bond trader. (Fi-Desk)
ANZ employees appear to have created a Reddit thread to complain about the job cuts. "People came in/logged in today. Some attempted to work, others tried to but were weighed down by the depressing nature of the current situation, and many just scrolled and looked for jobs." (Reddit)
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