City 焦点（を合わせる）: A 耐える felled by ego and greed

By Simon Duke for MailOnline
Updated: 09:24 BST, 18 March 2008

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It was formed during the 'roaring Twenties' and spent its formative years 天候ing the 広大な／多数の／重要な 不景気, but American 投資 bank 耐える Stearns just couldn't 生き残る the 騒動 現在／一般に gripping the 財政上の system.

That 塀で囲む Street's fifth biggest 会社／堅い went 負かす／撃墜する in such みごたえのある fashion only serves to 強化する the impression that the banking 産業 is 直面するing its most 激烈な／緊急の 危機 since the 1930s.

As with every banking 崩壊（する）, it was the familiar cocktail of greed and arrogance that 最終的に brought 負かす／撃墜する one of 塀で囲む Street's most famous 指名するs.

But it was the 速度(を上げる） with which 耐える Stearns unravelled that sent a spasm of 恐れる through 株式市場s the world over yesterday.

After all, rumours that 耐える Stearns was in trouble only started doing the 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs last week.

If the 連邦の Reserve felt it had no other choice but to 供給する £15bn to support the JP Morgan's 解雇する／砲火／射撃-sale 救助（する）, what does it say about the 明言する／公表する of the US banking 産業? And if 耐える Stearns was みなすd 'too big to 落ちる', are other 塀で囲む Street 指名するs 平等に in danger of going under?

The Fed's 決定的な 活動／戦闘 may be in stark contrast to the slow and painful death of Northern 激しく揺する, but 耐える's downfall is strikingly 類似の in 輪郭（を描く） to the demise of the British mortgage bank.

Like Northern 激しく揺する, it became far too reliant on 卸売 markets to 基金 its 拡大.

When 信用／信任 drained away and its 貸す人s asked for their money 支援する, it ran out of cash.

While Northern 激しく揺する was making its 壊滅的な dash for mortgage market 株 in Britain, 耐える was betting just as 積極性 on a 範囲 of 'sexy' 資産s, linked to US trailer park home 貸付金s.

Punting on コンビナート／複合体 器具s like collateralised 貸付金 義務s - which sliced and diced low income mortgages for re-sale to other 投資家s - helped make 耐える boss Jimmy Cayne one of the most admired men on 塀で囲む Street.

Under his 命令（する）, 耐える went 深い into the red as he moved into ever murkier corners of the 財政上の world. < /p>

The 利益（をあげる）s 注ぐd in, giving the American 安全s house, in its late 2006 pomp, a market cap of around £9.6bn. Cayne, a worldclass 橋（渡しをする） player, was sitting on a paper fortune of £500m.

But the company he created was a world away from the stockbroking 会社／堅い 設立するd in 1923 by Joseph 耐える, Robert Stearns and Harold Mayer, and built up into a 社債 and 投資 banking powerhouse by the formidable Alan Greenberg in the 1980s and 1990s.

And it was only a 事柄 of time before 耐える would groan under the enormous 負わせる of Cayne's borrowings.

In June, it had to find a £1.6bn cheque to 保釈（金） out a hedge 基金. Just a month later, the card-player, true to his roots, decided to keep playing in a big 橋（渡しをする） tournament in Tennessee while his underlings 負傷させる up two other sub-prime 基金s.

Having been saddled with a total of £24bn in 投資s tied to America's 崩壊（する）ing 住宅 market, Cayne 統括するd over the first loss in the 会社／堅い's 85-year history.

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The 令状ing was on the 塀で囲む. 貸す人s became ますます queasy at the thought of lending to 耐える, the value of whose mortgage 資産s was dropping like a 石／投石する.

With the bank on the brink of 崩壊（する）, the Fed had to 行為／法令／行動する quickly to 避ける the 'contagion' 影響s spreading across 塀で囲む Street.

That's because 耐える Stearns is a big player in credit default 交換（する）s - 保険 against companies not 支払う／賃金ing their 負債s - and other knotty derivative 器具s.

If it went 負かす／撃墜する, 一兆s of dollars of 契約s would have had to have been unpicked, bringing the whole 財政上の system grinding to a 停止（させる）. That would have been a step too far for an economy that has already entered 後退，不況.

It is thought that the Fed's 決定／判定勝ち（する） to pump around £50bn into 卸売 money markets last week was a 手段 to buy some more time to find a 救助者 for the group.

Although 比較して 整然とした, it was an ignominious end to a bank with almost nine １０年間s of history. So humiliating, in fact, that the takeout price was just a ４半期/4分の1 of the £500m 概算の value of its Madison Avenue （警察，軍隊などの）本部 in Manhattan.

Although the 初期の 支出 is small, getting 耐える Stearns 支援する の上に its feet will cost JP Morgan much, much more.

Boss James Dimon has already 始める，決める aside £3bn to cover redundancies and fighting an 推定する／予想するd flood of 訴訟s from incensed 株主s.

At least 3,000 of 耐える Stearns' 14,000-strong 全労働人口, 含むing just under the 1,400 in the UK, are 推定する／予想するd to go.

仲買人s at its office in Canary Wharf 推定する／予想する the axe to 落ちる as 早期に as this week.

Dimon will need a lot of brawn to dig 耐える out its 穴を開ける. At least he has the might of the Fed behind him if he finds any more 骸骨／概要s in its cupboard.