Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Citigroup Was One Big Mistake | If you're a Citigroup shareholder and you've watched your investment in the bank tumble into the abyss over the past year, take heart. John Reed, the man partly responsible for creating the dysfunctional financial supermarket that Citigroup turned into by merging Citicorp with Sandy Weill's Travelers Group in 1998, is really, really sorry. "We learn from our mistakes," says Reed. Feel better now? [Bloomberg]

Flu Flap | Did you hear that a handful of large Wall Street banks have been getting the swine flu vaccine to give to their "high-risk" employees, even though area hospitals have yet to receive it or are now running low on their supplies? A little public pressure seems to be paying off. Morgan Stanley says it will return its 1,000 doses to the city health department since some hospitals are still without the vaccine. But not every firm is following suit. Goldman Sachs is still "more important than you are," reports the Wall Street Journal. But you'd probably figured that out already. [WSJ]

Insider Trading Scandal Expands | Another 14 people have been implicated in the growing investigation into insider trading by hedge funds. A number of the people indicted today have ties to Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon Group who was arrested a couple of weeks ago; all of them, it's safe to say, just had their days ruined. [WSJ]

Golden Goldman | More great news for Goldman Sachs employees: "A whopping 36 times in the third quarter, the firm generated more than $100 million in revenue in a single day just from trading stocks, bonds and other instruments. That translates to 55% of the time, considering there were 65 trading days last quarter. The number of days Goldman traders lost money? Just one." [Crain's]

Citi's Latest Grab-and-Run | We can appreciate things are tough over at Citigroup right now what with the bank's stock price at its lowest point since August. And, sure, Citi is looking to hoard as much money as possible in the event another crisis comes along. But this effort by bank employees to create their own personal stockpiles of cash? Now they're beginning to push it! [NYP]

Jamie Dimon: The Early Years | Gawker scored a copy of Jamie Dimon's high school yearbook from 1974, which means you can now see what the CEO of JPMorgan Chase (and America's most powerful banker) looked like during his Johnny Cash days. NB: If you graduated from Brooklyn's Thomas Jefferson High School in 1971, we'd love to hear from you. [Gawker]

Good news for senior execs at bailed-out banks and auto companies. While Treasury Department "pay czar" Ken Feinberg announced last week that he was slashing overall compensation at the companies under his control, he's since decided to raise base salaries. Why? Because the banks complained, of course, which prompted Feinberg to re-review the matter. More

Surprise! | It seems Wall Street is not all that jazzed about the idea that Washington is slashing pay at bailed-out banks. Who'd have guessed? [BN]

How Not to Find a Job in Finance | Hunting for a job in finance? Allow recent college grad Jeffrey Chiang to show you a few things you should try to avoid doing at all costs. First off, if you're going to lie to a prospective employer and say you've already received an offer from another firm, they then ask for some proof of this offer, and you decide to go ahead and forge an email, try your very best to spell the name of the company correctly. (Although "Bank of Ameria" does have a exotic ring to it, we must admit.) And if a bank offers to fly you into town for an interview, do not insist to the travel agent making the arrangements that you have to stay at the Four Seasons. It's not 2004! [Dealbreaker]

Wall Street CEOs make a fortune, as you're undoubtedly aware. Even the chief executives of banks that have been bailed-out by Washington or have gone bust usually end up doing nicely. But despite the riches and perks these men have accumulated and massive egos they've developed along the way, few of them would do all that well in a beauty contest. Because it's high time that Wall Street take advantage of the miracle of modern science—and because we care, dammit—we took the liberty of contacting Dr. Anthony Youn, a board-certified plastic surgeon who has made appearances on Dr. 90210 and the Rachael Ray Show, to ask him what procedures he'd suggest these titans of finance consider if they want to look their very best. Dr. Youn's answers and cost estimates—and our commentary—is below.More

All Those Business Books, Recapped | Perhaps you've noticed that there are about 48 books about the financial crisis that have magically appeared on bookstore shelves in the last few weeks? (And there are a bunch more to come, don't you worry.) Naturally, you can't possibly be expected to read all of them. (Let's face it. You'll be lucky if you make it through any of them, especially since several of the tomes clock in at 500 pages or more.) Fortunately, Moe Tkacik has summed them all up in a tidy 2,200 words, which means you might just sound like you know what you're talking about the next time the financial meltdown comes up in conversation. [Daily Intel]

Goldman Sachs announced plans last week to donate $200 million to charity, a move designed to quell criticism over the firm's massive profits (and the massive bonuses that will soon handed out to the bank's employees). The donation isn't a gigantic sum for the investment bank—Goldman makes $200 million every three days or so—but it's a big step up from last year when the largest of the Goldman-affiliated foundations, the Goldman Sachs Charitable Fund, gave out about $10 million. So which non-profit groups stand to benefit the most from the firm's increased largesse? The institutions that Goldman wrote checks to last year runs about 25 pages. (You're welcome to go through it yourself; it's embedded below.) We focused on the dozens of elite private schools and fancy boarding schools that made the cut, a list you can review after the jump. But before you go out and start piecing together a conspiracy theory, we'll point out that the school that Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein's two sons (and his wife) attended wasn't anywhere close to the top. (Ethical Culture/Fieldston received a measly $10,000.) And as for Dalton, which is pictured above, it didn't get a dime. More

Insider Trading Scandal Rolls On | The biggest insider trading scandal to hit Wall Street in years may be about to get even bigger. Bloomberg reports that as many as 10 more people could be charged in connection with the case as early as next week. More

Bank of America Loses (And Gains!) | It's not all bad news for Bank of America today. Sure, the financial giant announced a $1 billion loss for the third quarter following heavy losses in its mortgage and credit card divisions. But it made some of it back within hours. Property records filed with the city today indicate the bank sold off its corporate apartment in the Time Warner Center for $7.2 million, and it purchased the place for $6.35 million three years ago. So if you're a Bank of America shareholder and it makes you feel any better, feel free to adjust the loss downward to 999,150,000. [NYT, NYO]

Ken Lewis Comes Up Empty | Ken Lewis, the outgoing CEO of Bank of America, won't be collecting a salary or bonus for 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal. Why? Because the Treasury Department's pay czar, Ken Feinberg, demanded it and the bank conceded rather than put up a fight. Don't shed any tears for Lewis: His retirement package is still worth between $69.3 million and $120 million. But there's reason to believe Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit is quaking in his Ferragamo loafers this evening:More