Jimmy Cayne, chairman and chief executive of Bear Stearns, has been calling round other Wall Street chiefs to reassure them about its financial health and to head off a crisis of confidence in the bank, the Financial Times reports.
Mr Cayne phoned Stan O’Neal, chief of Merrill Lynch, on Friday and has asked for a meeting with Chuck Prince, Citigroup’s chief. Bear has also received calls from concerned counterparties seeking reassurance.
Bear’s shares fell sharply early on Monday following Sunday’s ousting of Warren Spector, co-president. But they rallied with the late surge in the market, helped by cautiously positive comments from analysts. They closed up 5 per cent at $113.81.
Some analysts questioned whether it was fair for Mr Spector to take all responsibility for the handling of the collapse of two mortgage hedge funds run by Bear that triggered the credit markets turmoil.
But a person close to Mr Cayne said Mr Spector had “fundamentally mismanaged” the situation.