“He was from Goldman Sachs”
According to this article by Andrew Ross Sorkin (author of “Too Big to Fail”), that’s the line MF Global insiders used when questioned why they went along with Jon Corzine’s trades: “He was from...
View ArticleBanking: global mess
The IMF has recently issued a report on China’s financial system’s stability that has grabbed plenty of headlines, and yet today it seemed that there were pessimistic articles about banking all over...
View ArticleLatAm financial systems OK
So says the World Bank in a report released yesterday (here’s a link to the PDF). The staggering growth rates are explained by a low base, and the only concern is that this growth is in funding towards...
View ArticleDouble standards regarding defaults
Two recent stories highlight the current moral double standards regarding defaults and indebtedness in general. The first article by James Surowiecki in the New Yorker uses the recent American Airlines...
View ArticleBanker compensation and the crisis
Researchers have not been able to find a link between banker compensation and short-term performance metrics, the sort of link that might have led to excessive risk-taking. In their words, their...
View ArticleKurosawa and the crisis
MIT economist Andrew Lo had published a paper (41-page PDF available here) where he reviews twenty one (yes, 21) books about the global financial crisis. In search of common explanations and themes, he...
View ArticleWeekend reading: Dealbook
Two Dealbook articles to read over the weekend, about sources of risk that don’t get enough attention: the quality and reliability of financial instruments and advisors. The first one regards the Greek...
View ArticleGoldman Sachs’“culture”
A few days ago, a Goldman Sachs executive quit the company in an innovative manner: with a New York Times op-ed stating that he’s leaving because the bank’s “moral fiber” is severely damaged and the...
View ArticleMichael Burry letters
I apologize for not posting in the last 9 days or so, but I’ll make it worth your while with this link. Q3 2006 and Q1 2008 letters to investors by Scion Capital’s Michael Burry. You may have read...
View ArticleDon’t panic, but don’t believe the hype either
Two years ago the S&P downgraded the credit rating of the United States sovereign debt, triggering a global equities sell-off and motivating me to write a long post called “Don’t panic“. In it I...
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