Michael Klimes

1 week ago | thebanker.com | Michael Klimes

Ask five economists and you will get five different answers, is how the joke goes. A version of this applies to how banks devise their private credit offering: there are many ways to do it. Figuring out the right one is critical for investment banks given how many of them want to either launch new private credit ventures or upgrade existing ones. It is such a hotbed of activity that there seems to be a new announcement every other month.

2 weeks ago | thebanker.com | Michael Klimes

In the run up to the global turmoil unleashed by the Trump administration’s tariffs last week, global equity capital market issuance hit the highest it has been in the first quarter of any year since 2021. On April 2 President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs that drove shares in major US banks downwards.

3 weeks ago | thebanker.com | Michael Klimes

The political and regulatory stars are aligning to reform an obscure but important regulation that limits how much US Treasuries major Wall Street lenders can buy. It is called the supplementary leverage ratio and stipulates that large banks maintain 5 per cent of their capital against all bank assets, regardless of risk. It is calculated by dividing a bank’s common equity by its total assets.

4 weeks ago | thebanker.com | Michael Klimes

Large transatlantic mergers and acquisitions will not happen until there is more certainty on what the Trump administration’s tariff policies are, according to several Citigroup dealmakers. Citi’s divisional heads for the investment, corporate and commercial banks in Europe said geopolitics hangs over all types of banking activities, with clients asking questions about how to allocate capital in response to US tariffs.

1 month ago | thebanker.com | Michael Klimes |Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

Every generation has a handful of corporate leaders that transcend their profession and become household names. In US banking this position is occupied by Jamie Dimon, who is widely seen as one of the great financiers of his time. He is arguably the closest figure the sector has to the likes of Warren Buffett and has a voice that is almost universally respected across the financial community.