Morning Coffee: Veteran banker sending 3am emails passed over for top job. Extreme prestige of the banking intern

Rick Rieder, what a guy! In a hagiographic account of Rieder's ride from Wharton to Lehman to BlackRock, Fortune details the phenomenal work ethic of one of the many men who might have been chairman of the Federal Reserve. 

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Rieder doesn't seem to sleep much. There are suggestions that he stops emailing at 11pm and starts emailing at 3am. In a podcast two years ago, Rieder said, “I hate the feeling of not being in control while sleeping.” A biometric ring monitoring his vitals reportedly revealed that his stress peaked at 11.30pm when he was forced to sleep despite Asian markets being opened. His stress was relieved at 3.45am, when he woke up and began trading again.

Despite being sleep-deprived, and plastering his house with signs declaring "Work hard, play hard, give back." Rieder is reportedly "magnetic" and known for his humility. He's attracted a troop of 42 followers, who follow him everywhere.

Fortunately, they will not need to pack their bags in the near future. Rieder, who is currently chief investment officer of global fixed income for BlackRock, is not becoming chairman of the Fed after all. The Financial Times says Kevin Warsh, formerly the youngest Fed governor ever, will be nominated as the next chairman today. Maybe Rieder can go to bed early as a result.

Separately, if you're a second year student who has done a summer internship at a leading investment bank or hedge fund, you are briefly a person of extreme prestige and importance among your university peers, and ex-interns are absolutely making the most of this moment.

The FT reports that second and third year students at elite schools who've previously completed prestigious internships are "throwing their weight around on campus" and acting as gatekeepers to elite finance societies that only a few can join. 

Business Insider had a similar story last year, in which it noted that the inflated interns running the clubs were reducing would-be members to tears with aggressive questioning during their interview process. Queues of people want to join; only 10% are admitted.

If you make it into one of the special clubs, you will be at an advantage over your peers. At the University of Chicago, the FT says elite finance club members get to attend a six-week training program and then take an exam. It's very stressful, but it prepares you for applying to finance jobs and you have privileged access to the most prestigious students on campus.

Meanwhile...

Carried interest paid to Blackstone executives who profitably sold assets last year soared 15% to $1.1bn. (Bloomberg) 

HSBC is “maniacally focused” on rebuilding its investment bank in Hong Kong. It “lost some people it shouldn’t have but that is normal.” (Financial Times) 

JPMorgan wants more private bankers in France. (Bloomberg) 

Microsoft shares dropped and Meta's did not because Microsoft has to allocate limited Nvidia chips for both its internal AI development efforts and the external customers using its cloud-computing services for AI computing. (WSJ) 

XTX traded 50% more European equities with clients last year. (Bloomberg) 

Brevan Howard closed a fund run by star trader Fash Golchin and promoted him to run its Brevan Howard Master fund instead. (Bloomberg) 

Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes is leaving the US Commerce dept. (Semafor) 

Lloyds has been using AI to process complaints, which can now be categorised in one second rather than five minutes. It's also halved the time spent on coding. (Guardian)

Now is the time to start writing all your work achievements in a "brag book." (WSJ) 

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