Two weeks out from the end of 2020 and the IPO news cycle isn’t slowing down.
You’d be forgiven if you thought at the beginning of the week we’d maybe get a break from hearing about hot tech companies rushing to go public, as Roblex and Affirm postponed their debuts. But by Friday, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, online thrift platform Poshmark, and dating app Bumble had all filed for upcoming IPOs.
Another thing they all have in common, according to reports, is Goldman Sach’s involvement.
As for whether these companies might avoid the pops that have hit Airbnb and DoorDash remains to be seen. Dakin Campbell talked to nearly a dozen people to find out why their entry into public markets left critics claiming that the process is broken despite their attempts to fix it.
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Keep reading for how the IPO frenzy is impacting other parts of the finance ecosystem; the executives behind the war for wealth management talent; and why Wall Street is leaning into systemic strategies in bond trading.
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Quants focused on the corporate bond market are in high demand after a year where the strategy multiplied.
The biggest names on the buy side — titans like Cliff Asness’ AQR, Steve Cohen’s Point72, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, and Izzy Englander’s Millennium — were some of the first to dive into quant’s fixed-income possibilities.
Now, it’s become more widespread. One electronic marketplace says it’s seen the number of systematic strategies on its trading venue double every year since 2017. Blackstone, the world’s largest alternatives manager, has jumped into the trend as well. The firm bought a $7.5 billion manager that uses quant strategies in the corporate bond market at the end of November.
The recruitment process for financial advisors leaving one firm to join another went fully digital this year, but there were still lots of big-ticket moves across the industry.
UBS hired a team overseeing $9 billion from JPMorgan’s private bank, JPMorgan poached teams for its reorganized wealth business, and Wells Fargo in June had its best recruiting month in a decade.
Business Insider rounded up some of the key leaders and executives involved with those processes across Wall Street, overseeing financial advisors’ recruitment at a critical moment for the industry.
Tech and life-sciences companies have been going public at a rapid clip into the end of the year, generating millions in fees for top law firms.
Capital markets practices that nine months ago helped companies on life support are ending the year pushing forward high-value public offerings like Airbnb and DoorDash.
“This has to be the busiest December that I can remember in the last 20 years,” said Dave Peinsipp, a leader of the capital-markets group at Cooley.
Freshly public companies like DoorDash and Airbnb exploded in their public debuts, sending investors in a frenzied search to get into the next big IPO before it happens.
The biggest hedge funds — managers like Tiger Global, Coatue, and D1 Capital — have drawn more and more of their returns from the private markets, and massive mutual-fund managers like Fidelity have also gotten into the space.
Williams Trading, an execution firm for investors in both public and private companies, walked Business Insider through the impact the IPO market has had on the secondary market for start-up stakes.
Chase will begin rolling out a new virtual banker program in January, allowing clients to talk to bankers online about savings goals and budget questions.
The move comes as banks are looking to offer high-touch but virtual services to their clients, differentiating themselves in a crowded field of mobile and digital competitors. Chase has hired around 150 new bankers in its Ohio hub, and are planning on doubling their team of virtual bankers in 2021 by hiring in places like Chicago and Phoenix.
From Sean Czarnecki, Alex Morrell, and Rebecca Ungarino:
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae is angling to pull off an 11th-hour exit of government conservatorship before Donald Trump leaves the White House.
The effort is considered a long shot, but senior leaders at the agency have directed employees to be prepared to work over the holidays if a decision is reached on the matter.
Employees were notified last week an announcement regarding the release could come over the holiday season and could include “questions that need to be answered quickly.”
