Merrill Lynch bankers staged a Wall Street tradition when the New York Stock Exchange sounded its closing bell on New Year's Eve: the clapoff. Hundreds of employees at the World Financial Center in Manhattan stood and applauded solemnly to pay tribute to their stricken company — known on Wall Street in its heyday as the Thundering Herd. The clapoff is usually reserved for when beloved employees leave the building on quitting or retiring from a firm. But this ovation was devoted to the departure from the world of banking of the once-great bank itself.

Merrill, which lost billions of dollars in the subprime mortgage crisis, is now officially just a part of Bank of America, which stepped in to save it in a deal struck after the collapse of Lehman. With thousands of redundancies expected in the coming months, expect many more Merrill Lynch clapoffs in 2009.

* Well done to Barclays chief executive John Varley for putting your neck on the line and making a 12-month forecast for the FTSE-100 this year. But 4700 is not the bravest of predictions, John.

From sacked banker... to butler

Just been bounced out of a hedge fund or off the trading floor? Help is at hand. Butler training schools say they are seeing a surge of demand for domestic service — and it could be the thing for ex-City workers. Stephanie Rough, managing director of Greycoats Placements and Academy, says: “There are similarities; the new generation of butler is a skilled linguist, great multi-tasker, and very adaptable.” She adds: “Also, good with kids and pets and tech-savvy.” Come to think of it, City Spy can just picture Fred the Shred opening a door and taking coats in a Mayfair mansion...

* Economist John Kay writes in his forthcoming book on investing, The Long and Short of It: “A visitor to Newport, Rhode Island, weekend home of American plutocrats, is shown the symbols of the wealth of financial titans. There is Mr Morgan's yacht, and there is Mr Mellon's yacht. But, he asks, where are the customers' yachts?” Where indeed.

Hamper so good for Harrods

Not much sign of the credit crunch over at Mohamed Fayed's Harrods. The luxury department store's £5000 Chairman's Choice hamper, of which only eight were made, sold out completely. Ostensibly chosen by Fayed himself, the hamper featured a truffle ham, a Brie de Meaux and, naturally, Beluga caviar. To wash it down, there was a 30-year-old Macallan single malt, Krug champagne, Hennessy cognac and several bottles of wine including a Château d'Yquem dessert wine. Said Harrods: “People need buttering up even more in times of crisis. They were mainly gifts for clients.”

* With bankers and even Russian oligarchs feeling the pinch, it's no surprise that the luxury sector is suffering. Now staff at glossy magazine empire Condé Nast are on tenterhooks as chairman Si Newhouse returns to work after a holiday in Europe. Condé's business magazine Portfolio has already had the number of issues cut and other titles, including flagship US Vogue, have seen a hefty drop in advertising pages. The fear is Newhouse is planning a “January surprise”.

Vikram spoils New Year's

Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit's timing as he informed employees of the bank's new “dramatically lower” bonus policy left a little to be desired. The ailing US firm sent an email at around 8pm London time on New Year's Eve, so bankers popping open the champagne at parties could read the message on their BlackBerries and learn the distinct lack of cheer awaiting them in 2009.

* There is life after Citi for the bank's global director for diversity, Denise Durham Williams, made redundant just after returning from a Riviera cruise. “I've been really diligent with Pilates and have taken up knitting again. I'm almost done with a little blanket for my cat,” Williams tells New York magazine.

Be an online lender – and beat cuts in savings rate

With saving rates at most banks running below 3%, and set to fall further if the Bank of England cuts interest rates again this Thursday, here's an ingenious way to improve your return. Rory Sutherland, vice-chairman of Ogilvy Group UK, writes in this week's Spectator about website zopa.com. “Known, inevitably, as the eBay of lending (just as betfair.com is known as the eBay of betting), Zopa allows you to lend money to people at a rate and level of risk you choose,” he explains.

“Lenders have recently enjoyed a return just above 9% after allowing for any bad debts. Your money is spread across a large number of borrowers to minimise risk (although I suppose we've heard that one before) or, if you prefer, you can choose to lend small sums to individual borrowers whose loan requests come complete with photographs and short biographers... Even if a few borrowers default, you'll have the pleasure of knowing you are being ripped off by people poorer than you are — a pleasant change from conventional banking where you get ripped off by people who don't even need the money.”

* Fans of jump racing always get excited at this time of year as the prospect of the annual Cheltenham Festival looms large, but there are fears about the state of funding for the industry. While flat racing generates big cash from breeding fees, National Hunt is the poor relation — most of the horses are gelded, so can't go to stud. That means sponsorship money for races is even more important. However, a good deal of that comes from financial institutions that have fared disastrously in the crunch. So US insurance giant AIG sponsors the Irish Champion Hurdle while troubled Anglo-Irish Bank has backed a series of novice races. Anglo-Irish, whose chief executive and chairman resigned last month over a hidden £80 million loan fiasco, has already announced it won't be sponsoring the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March...