"It drove a wedge between the principal business and the client business," he said.

As stockbrokers they had developed a good private client business, and were very well connected.

As for HP, it will be surprising if they don't have to give up the client business sooner or later.

So those not able to point to the contributions they're making to client business are under increasing pressure.

The challenge to the bank's client business can be seen in its annual report, which was released yesterday.

That committee, which now has five members, will have responsibility for both client business and proprietary trading, helping to create a more unified firm.

The operating committee previously had responsibility only for Salomon's client businesses.

The money saved there will be transferred to develop the private client business and research which is corporate based.

The firm's global private client business posted its best results in 14 quarters.

It was one of Wall Street's important lessons about paying attention to details when you're working in a client business.