People are stressed about stress tests
The Federal Reserve will release the result of its stress tests tomorrow and this WSJ lede does an excellent job of confusing readers:
“Investors are looking forward to a stress-free round of bank stress tests this week. But there could be complications.”
Which is it: Will the results be “stress-free” or will there be complications?
But the real fun starts when the article mentions Wells Fargo.
“Some investors are also concerned that Wells Fargo could have its return plan denied on “qualitative” grounds as part of the extended fallout from last year’s account-sales fiasco. But Goldman’s analysts figure this is unlikely given the amount of work the bank has done to reform its sales practices.”
I should hope the Fed will raise some kind of “qualitative” concerns. Last I heard, Wells Fargo was admitting that it didn’t really know how many of its existing accounts were legit. Isn’t that the same thing as admitting they aren’t sure about the quality of their data?
But then again, maybe what the Fed should really be asking itself is why all those fake accounts never caused Wells Fargo to fail a stress test in the past.
About those stress tests
Whatever happens tomorrow and whatever you think of the Federal Reserve’s stress tests, they are about to get easier.
Yeah … right
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund says moves to sell assets and transfer over $30 billion worth of its domestic equity holdings to the country’s finance ministry have nothing to do with current tensions in the gulf.
Uber Schmuber
I have dedicated space here before about the apparent ineptitude of Uber’s crisis communications team, so I feel like a few words about Travis Kalanick’s departure – or rather, the coverage of Kalanick’s departure – are appropriate.
This analysis from the FT is factual, but ludicrous. Yes, the departure of a CEO from a C-suite already lacking a few Cs is not ideal. However, Kalanick’s departure paves the way for some of those other positions to be filled with much more qualified candidates. The not-so-funny thing about Uber’s communications team being a disaster is that they once brought in some pros who might have helped Kalanick steer clear of the woes that have plagued him in 2017 (and certainly better managed the aftermath of those woes). Sadly for Uber, those people left long ago … probably because they couldn’t stand Kalanick.
More recently, loads of great candidates for C-suite jobs wouldn’t go anywhere nearUber so long as Kalanick was in place. Since Kalanick’s late night departure, there have already been some big names thrown around as his possible replacement. ALL of those people will be able to recruit better talent to fill Uber’s C-suite than Kalanick could. This is GOOD thing for the future of Uber.
And if it isn’t haven’t you ever heard of Lyft?
WYWW Appetizers
