27 Mar 2013

When the state loots the shareholder

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State-sanctioned looting of shareholders becomes the norm in the United Kingdom. First not-so-gentle persuasion was used to force banks to c...
18 Mar 2013

Stalinist Incomes policy - spiteful and arbitrary

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The European (Dis?) Union is on the slippery road to serfdom (Hayek) when professional agitators like Sven Giegold (read his CV carefully, ...
5 Feb 2013

UBS: Will Junk Pay motivate the troops?

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I doubt it. When regulators don't regulate properly and management runs the ship aground it is not obvious why 6,500 staff should pay th...
31 Jan 2013

Deutsche Bank - Vorwaerts mit Achleitner?

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The write-offs published in DB's results show that despite all the market-leading positions the Bank may have in certain business segm...

Derivative Trading - prone to abuse, fraud

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As little - or even no - cash changes hands when transactions in derivatives (especially those conducted " Over-the-Counter") are...

Nomura - profits still weak

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The 9-month results for Nomura Holdings offer a slightly more positive picture but given the generally favourable market conditions experi...
23 Jan 2013

Derivatives: Instruments of Mass Destruction?

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Another day, another disclosure of a massive derivative loss. Given the astronomical amount of outstanding (OTC) derivative contracts (and ...
16 Jan 2013

Goldman: plays a simple game better than most

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Quarterly figures just released by Goldman Sachs this morning demonstrate (again) that the firm plays - what should be a simple game - bett...

JP Morgan: Review of the 'Whale' Trades

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Nothing but a very thorough review of the losses made by the 'Whale' was to be expected but one still has to wonder how much good th...
11 Jan 2013

UK: Hellbent on destroying its banks?

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Readers know my scepticism with respect to the LIBOR witch hunt (and the PPI/payment protection insurance brouhaha that is completely blown ...