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
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
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
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
Go east – but only if you speak Mandarin
Two forces fuel the growth of financial services. First, the growth of household income leads to demand for basic banking then saving and pension products. This in turn drives the growth of commercial banks and institutional savings businesses like pension … Continued
The Future of Finance
How do you sum up the future of finance in 10 minutes? Well I’ve been asked to do just that for an event in Cambridge on 22 October, which is part of the annual Festival of Ideas (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/whatson/ideasfestival/). The Festival … Continued
“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”
On Saturday I accompanied a group of MFin students to see the belated “Wall Street” sequel. This was strictly for entertainment – not part of the syllabus. The consensus was it was pretty average. Moderately entertaining, with some good attention … Continued
Ethics and finance
Today Jérôme Kerviel was found guilty in the trial over his unauthorised trades for Societe Generale, the unwinding of which caused huge losses. He faces three years in prison and (this is surely the French sense of humour) he must … Continued
Complexity
I mentioned in a previous blog that we hosted a day of complexity experts here in Cambridge. I wasn’t at the seminar but was lucky enough to be introduced to Eric Beinhocker, the author of The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, … Continued
The true importance of finance
I’ve been reading a fascinating, if rather grim, book called The Secret State, by the distinguished British historian, Peter Hennessy. Based on interviews and a range of declassified official files, it’s a detailed picture of the secret arrangements made in … Continued
Serial masters degrees
One reason we reject some candidates before interview is because they recently did another masters degree, including an MBA. On occasions the applicants are doing one masters while applying for another. This might seem as if we’re rejecting people with … Continued
Speculation versus gambling
I once came across a definitional difference between financial speculation and gambling. This might seem rather trivial, or only of interest to some moral philosophers. But it was of great significance when the Chicago Board of Trade was trying to … Continued
The revival of the IMF
A few years ago a course on financial institutions would mention the IMF as a matter almost of politeness. An organisation that was created in 1944 for a role which ceased to make sense after 1971 seemed to be surviving, … Continued
Greece, the Eurozone and the EU
There is plenty of excellent commentary on the rapidly unfolding Greek financial crisis so I want to stand back slightly and muse on the bigger picture. This is an economic problem that arose from a political goal. There is a … Continued