(February 6 – 18:00 ET) – The New York Times is reporting that prominent bank analyst, Michael Mayo, dropped by Credit Suisse First Boston, has been hired by Prudential Securities.

Mayo has said that he believes he was dismissed from CSFB after its merger with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, as punishment for putting a sell rating on bank stocks in May 1999. The difficulty for analysts in putting sell recommendations on the stocks of companies that their firms are trying to win lucrative investment banking assignments from is a well-known, but unspoken phenomenon.

CSFB has denied Mayo’s accusation, saying it simply preferred to keep DLJ’s bank analysts. Neither Mayo or Prudential has commented on the report that he will join the firm, although Prudential’s existing bank analyst, Nancy Bush, confirmed that she has been dismissed.

“I was told the financial services group was being restructured,” she said. Prudential is trying to make a name for itself as a firm that is willing to issue “sells” when they are warranted, and it has eschewed investment banking business, focusing instead on retail investors. “We are bringing in a guy who is exactly right for the new strategy we’re embarking on,” a Prudential executive told the Times.
-IE Staff