Queuing theory

Dear Mona, Which Is The Fastest Check-Out Lane At The Grocery Store? | FiveThirtyEight:

"I couldn’t find much research on express lanes specifically, but one paper from Amsterdam found the reduction in wait times for express-lane customers didn’t offset the overall increase in wait times for everyone. Maybe life would be easier if the supermarket didn’t have an express lane — or, better yet, if it got rid of multiple lines altogether and had all customers join a single infinitely sprawling line where there were no winners and losers. That might sound nightmarish, but the math actually suggests it would be anything but."

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The cosy between investment banking and private equity

The cosy between investment banking and private equity: Epicurean Dealmaker: The Privy Counselor:

"But most importantly, having M&A and industry bankers gives integrated investment banks an excuse to deliver ideas, industry and client insight, and all-important deal flow to the biggest-paying class of clients on Wall Street: private equity firms. While it is well known that private equity firms do not like paying M&A advisors for advice—usually because, rightly or wrongly, they think they know at least as much or more as bankers do about companies, deal-doing, and opportunities—they absolutely love paying investment banks to supply and arrange leveraged loans and high yield debt to finance buyouts of target companies. And banks love this too, because it is both huge and hugely profitable business. PE firms are usually happy to hire investment banks to sell their portfolio companies or take them public upon exit, too, although they tend to favor the banks which brought them the investment in the first place, financed it, and or smothered them with loving attention and juicy new buyout opportunities in the meantime."

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M&A synergies

M&A synergies and negative synergies Epicurean Dealmaker: The Privy Counselor:

"The point, in other words, is that Blackstone divesting its advisory business has nothing to do with bucking a nonexistent trend on Wall Street to add business lines like barnacles on a freighter. Instead, it has everything to do with dumping business lines that add no value, subtract value, or fail to realize their own value due to inherent negative synergies resulting from persistent structural conflicts of interest with the parent company. In other words, it is business as usual."

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Sorry, But Disruptive Technology WILL Kill Banks

Sorry, But Disruptive Technology WILL Kill Banks: "Allegedly, John Authers recently wrote an article in the Financial Times entitled “Disruptive technology will not kill banks“. I say allegedly because despite the article being cited and commented on by two people whose analysis and opinion I respect (Chris Skinner and Jeff Marsico), I cannot get through the FT’s phalanx of pop-up ads and paywalls to actually read it with my own eyes. By trying to open the link multiple times, I was able to spy a few words at a time before the ads obscured the subheading that read “Banking is too heavily regulated to be threatened by newcomers”"



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