Wall Street Execs Always Looking For Green Pastures

Guess what? With the government cracking down on the multi-million dollar bonuses given to employees of bailed out financial firms, some top executives are thinking maybe they don't want to work for the big firms. The NY Times reports on the exodus of "top talent...leaving Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and others in rising numbers to join banks that do not face tighter regulation, including foreign banks, or start-up companies eager to build themselves into tomorrow’s financial powerhouses." They're also heading to firms that didn't take bailout money, like Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank. One boutique firm's chief executive says, “We have the opportunity to step into the shoes of a Bear Stearns or a Lehman." Um, remember what happened to Bear and Lehman? Still, NYU Stern School of Business professor of finance Matthew Richardson says, "If the risk-taking spreads out to these smaller institutions, it is no longer a systemic threat. And innovation is spreading out too. This is a good thing.”