Mortgage-Backed Securities Fire Sale and Trader Bonuses

The party's over as of this morning. There's gonna be considerable turmoil in the markets for the foreseeable future, and they believe it is better that this turmoil begin with us.

As a result, the firm has decided to liquidate its majority position of fixed income MBS today.

These are your packets. You will see what accounts you're responsible for today.

I'm sure it hasn't taken you long to understand the implications of this sale on your relationships with your counterparties and, as a result, on your careers.

I have expressed this reality to the executive committee, and they understand.

As a result, if you achieve a 93% sale of your assets, you will receive a $1.4 million one-off bonus.

If the floor as a whole achieves a 93% sale, you will get an additional $1.3 million a piece.

For those of you who've never been through this before, this is what the beginning of a fire sale looks like.

I cannot begin to tell you how important the first hour and a half is gonna be.

I want you to hit every bite you can find, dealers, brokers, clients, your mother, if she's buying.

And no swaps. It's outgoing only today.

Obviously, this is not going down the way that any of us would have hoped, but the ground is shifting below our feet, and apparently, there's no other way out.

Guys, this is obviously a very, very unique situation.

If we are successful today, we will have been successful in destroying our own jobs.

I cannot promise that any of you, all of you, some of you will be repositioned within the firm.

But I can tell you that I am very proud of the work that we have done here together.

I've been at this place 34 years, and I can tell you from experience that people are gonna say some very nasty things about what we do here today and about what you dedicated a portion of your lives to.

But have faith that in the bigger picture, our skills have not been wasted.

We have accomplished much, and our talents have been used for the greater good.

There's your packets. Get to work.