Dangerous Dimon (contd.)..
I wasn’t the only one to have a go at Jamie Dimon (see this post from June). Paul Krugman, a rather more distinguished blogger than me, has been trying to poke fun at him too. But Dimon’s latest outburst takes … Continued
Reasons to be cheerful
Since I last blogged back in June, the flow of bad economic and financial news has turned into a torrent. Banks have shed jobs, markets have fallen, confidence in governments is even lower than before, the ECB has acrimoniously lost … Continued
Non-finance activities
MFins have many hidden talents. Some of them formed a band this year and were kind/foolish enough to invite me to play along with them on a couple of songs after a dinner at Churchill College. On this rather hazy … Continued
May Week is in June
After the end of the Easter (summer) term there is a week of partying called May Week. This always takes place in June (it once took place in May, hence the name). Undergraduates at Cambridge face a hugely stressful exam … Continued
Financial Times rankings
On Monday 23 June the FT is expected to publish its first ranking of master of finance degrees. The FT consulted a number of business schools about this to try to make sure the rankings made sense, especially in comparing … Continued
Is Jamie Dimon the most dangerous person in finance?
Jamie Dimon is the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Inc. I’ve sometimes described JPMorgan Chase (hereafter “JPMorgan”) as the world’s least bad bank – in line with my view that most banks are not very good at what they … Continued
Changes to the MFin programme for 2011-12
Changes to the MFin programme for 2011-12 We are making four changes to the MFin teaching programme for the next academic year. Some of these changes reflect an increase in the workload in other parts of the programme because some … Continued
As Confucious apparently didn’t say…
I’ve been accused of writing too much about China, so apologies for more, but there is an interesting story in today’s Financial Times. Like many people, I’ve used the story about the Chinese premier Zhou Enlai replying to US President … Continued
China’s misdirected IT expertise
Yesterday Google revealed a campaign to steal users’ passwords that “appeared” to originate in China. This, though denied today by the Chinese government, is hardly the first time that China has been accused of various “cyber-crimes”. All I can say … Continued
A 50 year old film
Lots of women on Facebook and on dating websites say their favourite film is “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (don’t ask me how I know this, but trust me, it’s true). It’s such a cliché that I wonder if women select it … Continued
Graduation weekend
The MFin class of 2009-10 graduated last Saturday. I need to explain what this means. In Cambridge, you aren’t actually allowed to use the title MFin (or whatever degree you’ve got) unless you graduate, either in person or in absentia. … Continued
Class size: small but perfectly formed
We are getting close to the end of the admissions process. There is always a large margin of error at this stage but it looks likely that next year’s class will be a bit bigger than this. I’d suggest a … Continued
Greece versus Ireland
Three Eurozone countries are being “bailed out” at present: Greece, Ireland and Portugal. In each case the country’s government has been lent money by public sector organisations (IMF, European Central Bank (ECB) and EU member states) because the private markets … Continued
Power politics in finance
I’m reading an excellent new book called “Red Capitalism: the fragile foundation of China’s extraordinary rise” by Carl Walter and Fraser Howie which provides some very detailed and fascinating background to the current state of the Chinese banking system. It’s … Continued
The impossibility of keeping everyone happy
I wrote a while back about the potential benefits of restricting student choice. I’m feeling even more inclined in that direction after the annual group consulting project (GCP) round. We try to offer students a choice over which project to … Continued