Barclays is not the problem

Barclays is a problem, no doubt. But it is not the problem. The problem is not a few cowboys, it’s the whole damn rodeo. Speaking with a friend who’s worked on nuclear anti-proliferation strategy on Saturday, I was struck by the contrast he drew between approaches to and expectations surrounding government regulation in both areas. Given nuclear technology’s tremendous potential for colossal harm it’s a no-brainer that stringent regulation, frequent spot-checks and the limitating of access to rigorously trained and …

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LIBOR – a tobacco moment for banking?

Here’s a super leader from the Economist on the LIBOR scandal…the video is pretty good also. “Since we have not more power of knowing the future than any other men, we have made many mistakes (who has not during the past five years?), but our mistakes have been errors of judgment and not of principle.” So reflected J.P. Morgan junior in 1933, in the middle of a financial crisis. Today’s bankers can draw no such comfort from their behaviour. The …

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