The expected purchase of Barclays Global Investors by BlackRock for $13.5bn was given the green light this morning, creating the world's largest money manager with more than $3,000bn under management. It also provided a windfall for BGI staff who had participated in the equity ownership plan – 3,500 employees worldwide will share a pot of $1bn as a result of the deal, according to the FT. However, this is unlikely to be divided equally. As the Telegraph points out, $607m of this will be split among 200 senior staff. But Bob Diamond, who you might remember netted £5m after the sale of iShares, will get the biggest cut – around $36m. “The way the business has performed over the last six years, driving from $100m a year of profit before tax in 2003 to as high as $1.5bn in 2007 means the returns to employees who bought shares were good. I’ll leave it at that," he said.

Morgan Stanley re-hires Henry McVey in an attempt to rejuvenate its asset management arm. (Wall Street Journal)

…and shakes up top brass in Asian investment banking unit (Reuters)

"Once we lose of control over the City of London we will never get it back, and the consequences could be catastrophic." (Telegraph)

Bill to bail out banks in Europe reaches $5.3trillion (Bloomberg)

Logo removed from AIG employee badges, staff should avoid branded apparel, travel in pairs and question people hanging outside the offices (Bloomberg)

Credit Suisse to benefit from investment banking 'cash cow' (Financial News)

Collins Stewart names new finance director (Reuters)

Nomura taps Deutsche Bank for new head of risk solutions (Financial News)

Ex-Lehman traders starting up hedge funds in Asia (Bloomberg)

How the recession is hitting Hollywood (Business Insider)