In honor of GoT S7 premiering next month, I'd like to pose a simple question to the WSO community. If the investment banks were the Houses of Westeros, which would they be?
My Opinion:
Goldman Sachs/House Lannister - the "old money" in Westeros and currently crushing the league tables/ruling the seven kingdoms; despised by most of the other houses for their continued dominance and placing loyal members in key positions of government
Morgan Stanley/House Tyrell - Challenging the Lannisters for supremacy with equally old money and family name but alas still second best
JP Morgan/House Targaryen - An old, powerful name that has seen significant success in recent years (post financial crises); has upended the balance of power rising to the top of league tables using a bevy of powerful new tools i.e. massive, fire-breathing dragons/balance sheets
BAML/House Stark - Another old name(ML) whose alliance with the wildlings(BofA) has resulted in recent success through the use of powerful new tools including giants/massive balance sheets but still trying to figure out how to use new alliance to topple other ruling families/banks
Credit Suisse/House Martell - A strong platform competing with all the other families in the seven kingdoms/USA but still something oddly foreign about them; tried to integrate by marrying into the royal family(Elia and Rhaegar)/buying First Boston but with mixed success
Barclays/House Tully - As a result of questionable alliances i.e. marriage into Houses Stark and Arryn/purchase of Lehman's US banking business, Barclays has seen better days
Citi/House Arryn - Old powerful name (Saloman Bros) that has sat out most of the War of the Five Kings/financial crises wheeling and dealing to lick its wounds; now middle of the road with new leadership i.e. Peter Baelish/Michael Corbat and seeking to reassert dominance
Deutsche/House Greyjoy - Crises of leadership in recent years i.e. step down of Jain & Fitschen/death of Balon Greyjoy along with a refusal to play by the rules i.e. manipulation of LIBOR etc./raiding and pillaging of the North has resulted in a beatdown
UBS/House Baratheon - Oh how the mighty have fallen; Once, one of the most powerful families in Westeros, significant talent losses i.e. Robert, Stannis and Renly deaths/Blair Effron and Ken Moelis departures as well as a refusal to play by the rules i.e. forex manipulation/human sacrifices has resulted in obliteration
Thoughts? Comments? Criticism?
Mod Note (Andy): top 50 posts of 2017, this one ranks #2 (based on # of silver bananas)
Comments (79)
This is hilarious. +SB
There is some serious thought that went into this. Well done
Awesome. SBed you.
Winter = Fintech
LOL.... Had a good laugh at this.
And it's coming... haha
Was expecting this to be completely lame, but instead I'm pretty impressed. Well done.
i've never seen you speak so highly of a post
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Great read for this Friday morning Sb'ed!
Well thought out +SB...wonder if you could throw some EBs into the mix though
Bear Stearns = Dothraki... powerful, savage horde joined to House Targaryen?
Lehman would have to be house Bolton then...
I work with a bunch of ex-Lehman guys. From what I've heard, House Bolton sounds about right.
I was honestly shocked that no one had done this already....
I know! Awesome post. This is great stuff man.
I love this. Tickling my GoT itch, the hype is real!
Who are the white walkers?
RBC/BMO cause Canada and things.
Wells Fargo/Braavos (Iron Bank) - Large balance sheet, little influence, in some weird far off land.
Ah, the weird far off land of Charlotte.
You do realize that WF is based in San Fransisco right........
This is amazing, there should be a show on this (such as Game of Zones on the NBA)
Lloyd Blankfein as Tywin Lannister is so oddly fitting.
This is genius
hahahah love it!
SEC = Wight Walkers, Preet Bharara could've been the Night King WSJ = Varys. Impotent media outlet
Lazard is like Slavers Bay. The analysts there are treated worse than the unsullied if I'm not mistaken.
Fitting username
should be called Game of Loans
Who is the many faced God? And The Lord of Light?
Dolen Trump for Many Faced God. Too many variant, and often contradictory, opinions on the same topic. Putin for Lord of Light.
White Walkers = Incoming Tech Startups coming back for another round following the Dot Com Boom
Macquarie/Dothraki - Apparently they're powerful over in their own continent, but on the main land either you haven't heard of them or think of them as barbaric foreigners who sound weird.
SB for quality. In Australia - a dominant powerhouse. Outside of Australia - relatively unknown.
this is what happens when the intern has too much time on his hands... somebody get this man a model to build lol
Well done
You've hit fnlondon.com with this post
Wtf this is crazy...i did this in like an hour while trying to fall asleep. Thanks for the support guys!
yeah thanks for the post! big hit on the site (will probably have 15k+ views by next week)
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Lord of Light = Warren Buffet
Investment banks might have been game of thrones pre financial crisis, now with their changed cultures and low returns, they are more like the show "girls". Goldman Sachs is Lena Dunham, Citibank is shoshanna.
Purchase of Lehman Bros' banking business was the best decision Barclays has made. Selling of BGI to BlackRock was the worst.
House Clegane - Moelis. No explanation required.
The Unsullied - PJT
Hahaha love it! Take dem bananas.
House Mormont/http://www.simmonspjc.com/Simmons & Co
Small House, rule the Bear Island (Energy M&A)
Bear would have been House Bolton..those guys were real cowboys who didn't give a you know what.
that must've taken a long time to put all this together. SB.
See my Blog & AMA
Haha very well done!
SEC = High Sparrow
As if this site wasn't nerdy enough. Like the markets we are reaching new all-time highs everyday.
A winner +1
Castle Black - Jefferies
Castle black is operations. Banished away with no exits in sight to a wasteland with no women.
Government Sachs=Varys
Finding its way into every regime, always asserting influence no matter who's on top.
HSBC = Qarth BNP = Lys (trading house known for exotics) Fed = Maester Order =(secret order with mysterious influences with every house), Oldtown and the Citadel is FOMC/FRBNYRBS = Night's Watch (once a proud financial powerhouse/down to 135 men)
Lehman = Freys ( since the twins are super important to westeros) PBOC = Volantis/Bravoos Iron Bank (financial superpower outside of westeros)
Qatalyst - Qyburn - was once part of the order, kicked out, but has now found his way back in...
Very accurate!
Jamie Dimon referred to as the "Khaleesi of Wall Street"....you can't make this shit up
http://dealbreaker.com/2017/08/if-jamie-dimon-isnt-running-for-presiden…
Who would be the Dothraki Horde?
Moelis
Evercore?
The question then becomes what is the Battle of the Bastards and what is the Red Wedding?
Dragons = MBS
My dude what about the Bank of Bravos??
good read!
best. post. hands down.
Recession=winter
Winter is definitely coming
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