FSA

Banking / Financial Services / FSA / Governance / Non-executive / Regulation — Comments Off
14
Sep 11

New era regulators and a passionate conversion

How tinkering may ruin bank boards

Take a look at the Financial Times, where Robinson Hambro authored an editorial on the Financial Services Authority and its excessive interference in the running of the boards of banks.

Or read the article in the text below:

The passion of the convert is a frightening thing. Be it former smokers who cast glances of derision at office staff puffing away on the pavement or, more specifically, the regulatory backlash on the back of the financial crisis, converts allow little room for a nuanced approach.  Continue reading...

All Posts / Bank of England / Banking / FSA / Governance / Regulation — Comments Off
9
Jun 11

The coming Euro Ministry of Finance

SIF and the Mayr: intrusive interventions

How the mighty are fallen! Not only Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF head who allegedly sexually assaulted a chambermaid, or former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Tunisian counterpart Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

There are a host of others: one of the world’s foremost Israeli football agents, a household-name UK broadcaster, plus a number of European chairmen. Last week they were all at the infamous Mayr Clinic, whose mission it is to clean out its residents’ guts to restore them to health and energy via a quasi-liquid fasting cure. One would imagine the conversation would range from the FIFA scandal to Greek debt restructuring.  Continue reading...

All Posts / Banking / FSA / Governance / Regulation — Comments Off
6
Dec 10

Spanish opportunities

Regulatory tales from Switzerland and the EU

Sitting to the right of Mexican Commerce Secretary Herminio Blanco Mendoza at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1995 was like being present at a wake where thoughts of the deceased shadowed all conversation.

The tequila crisis, based around the sudden devaluation of the Mexican peso in December 1994, meant that the usually overrun Mexican evening party consisted of only one table, with a lowly journalist in the seat of honour next to the host. Mexico was going nowhere in the eyes of an international community which shuns failure.
In this subdued atmosphere, Herminio kow-towed to the unknown Indian on my right, who owned the country´s third biggest steel producer. The firm was reportedly the largest foreign currency earner in Mexico.  Continue reading...

All Posts / Bank of England / Banking / Financial Services / FSA / Regulation — 1 Comment
23
Aug 10

On fishing and the City

Banking tales from Colorado

As I cast my line into the deep pool, amid the blazing sunshine in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the gillie reassured this amateur fisherwoman that the trout were “stupid” at this time of year due to the spawning season. Rather like rutting deer in the fall, he added. Or like board members who allow themselves to be distracted by new mistresses in the midst of company crises.

Choosing the right person for the job is crucial.

With key FSA powers now being incorporated into the Bank of England, questions are being raised about the stance of the ever more powerful Mervyn King, an academic economist. The Governor of the Bank of England does not believe it is a good thing to have multibillion dollar banks headquartered in the UK due to the bail-out cost in troubled times.  Continue reading...

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