It's not all doom and gloom on Wall Street. While bankers and traders exit the one-time powerhouse banks--voluntarily or not--small trading and banking outfits are enjoying the benefits. They are staffing up right now with very good people. A great example of this comes from Fortune, which reports that Peter Solomon, former vice chairman of Lehman Brothers, who started his own firm 20 years ago, is on something of a signing spree. He recently snatched up four big-name bankers. He's "TARP free" and willing to pay up and that's saying a lot these days.

We'll have to see how well the boutiques can muscle in on the top banks when it comes to advisory work. IT may take a while. The big names were well represented on the recent spate of drug deals, though we did see Evercore stake out some territory. My guess is that the top banks will do everything they can to pay TARP funds back if it looks like it could crimp their ability to pay their employees. 

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
A modest proposal on paying back TARP funds
Northern Trust to pay back TARP funds
Should banks rush to pay back TARP funds