if you are a hedge fund, push “3”

A lot of times, my work life takes on something of the hue of Sancho Panza. I research lending patterns, seeking to rearrange the flows of capital in the world, perched from a black office chair in the second floor office of a refurbished building on Geer Street in northeast Central Durham. There have been easier dreams. Perhaps, trying to teach pre-algebra to a band of hungry 8th graders in spring. But then something happens that can change all of that. Our story begins last fall, when I downloaded some deposit data on a large midwestern bank – called Seventh 2nd Bank (7/2). And I did the same for a small North Carolina bank that they were acquiring – call them 2nd Best Bank (SBB). This was some great data! I mean, just a beautiful spreadsheet. The numbers on SBB were damning.Nobody much liked 7/2, but the problem was clearly on the side of SBB. SBB wouldn’t talk. We met with 7/2. We met in a big hotel room with one of 7/2’s corporate lawyers. “We don’t like your lending practices,” we said, “and we don’t

Advertisement