The days when perks flowed free on Wall Street are over, but that doesn't mean that bankers have stopped taking care of their clients.
In fact, big clients are more important than ever, so if anyone is seeing the Street's riches, it's them.
We've collected a list of the wildest perks we've heard about for you here. Try not to get too jealous.
The classic kickback
CDR Financial allegedly engaged in a kickback scheme in which the company schemed state budgets to collect better fees from banks. Here, according to Bloomberg Markets Magazine, is how it worked:
CDR was supposed to be finding the bank with the best interest rate in which to invest the money that certain states use on parks, roads and/or pensions. Instead, CDR was setting up a plan to give the business to a company in exchange for a kickback, an under the table (illegal) payment that is usually some portion of the fee the bank will collect as a condition of their investment. So CDR got a fee from the bank it colluded with, and it also collected a transaction fee from the state, for advising them on which firm to do business with.
Incredibly "lucrative" golf outings
One trader we spoke to regaled us with the story of a former Lehman broker who was notorious for his earl summer golf outing.
While such events are frequent occurrences in the World of Wall Street, the unnamed trader (who are source has not stayed in contact with since Lehman's collapse) would turn individual holes into "Prize Events" with guests, mostly traders and private clients, "winning" items like Rolex watches, flat screen TVs and privately pre-paid Caribbean vacation packages.
"And everyone walked away a winner," says our source.
Well, these days, you'd have to ask Dick Fuld what "everyone" means...
Grand Cru Bordeaux and lavish dinners
Silicon Valley i-banker Kelly Porter makes his living raising capital for burgeoning tech companies.
Of course, he gets a cut of whatever he raises. So, as Bloomberg reported last summer, Porter has created an opulent, investment-oriented tech "salon" to draw the money.
In order to woo them into becoming or staying clients, Porter hosts his guests in a pool-side tent that reminds one of a traveling sultan, where he pours luxuriously-priced wines and serves gourmet meals.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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