Top Execs sell stock before bad company news breaks

When well-paid (overpaid?) top executives behave like this one should not wonder that Capitalism and the Market System increasingly lose public support. It is only fortunate that the average citizen is not really able to properly put such blatant abuse of position into proper perspective. After all, how many do really understand what a million dollars (life changing amount for 99% of the population) means? The maths scores tell a story! And it will be interesting to see how regulators and the trustees of the savings of ordinary people (aka investment managers, private bankers) and the corporate and 'socially responsible' investment crowd are going to do about this.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/equifax-executives-sold-stock-after-data-breach-before-informing-public-2017-09-07?siteid=rss&rss=1

Diamonds are Forever?

Lending ONE BILLION against some baubles supposed to be in envelopes or safes? NUTS! Did they never hear about the Great Salad Oil Swindle in the early 1960's? What do these risk managers do? Do the 'Elite' Business Schools teach them the basics?
https://www.bloomberg.com//news/articles/2017-09-07/how-standard-chartered-lost-400-million-on-risky-diamond-debt

London Job Losses: Trickle rather than Bleeding

One always had to wonder why Deutsche Bank needs 9000 people in London, or HSBC needs 43000 in the UK. Was that not always padded by quite a bit or over staffing? Given the arrival of Fintech and the plummeting cost of communicating with low-cost centres there was always the prospect of job diversion, especially in support roles. Globalisation also means that other centres such as Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai etc would grow in stature and staff would be relocated closer to customers and markets.
In the opposite direction there are forces that might in the long run strengthen the role as hub and nerve centre coordinating and directing the regional centres. Higher Value-added roles might well be concentrated in the UK - if politics and regulation are creating a business-friendly environment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/bank-jobs-are-bleeding-out-of-london--and-brexit-hasnt-even-kicked-in-yet.html

Russia To Ban Cryptocurrency Sales To "Ordinary People"

Rightly so, time our often over-reaching regulators wake up to this charade, and please don't call these 'Coins' a 'Currency', they are neither coins nor currencies but should be relegated to the game universe.
Russia Backpedals On Bitcoin - Unveils Plan To Ban Cryptocurrency Sales To "Ordinary People"

London Job Losses - trickling rather than bleeding

One always had to wonder why Deutsche Bank needs 9000 people in London, or HSBC needs 43000 in the UK. Was that not always padded by quite a bit or over staffing? So large banks move dozens or even hundreds of jobs, dispersed in various regional centres? Given the arrival of Fintech and the plummeting cost of communicating with low-cost centres there was always the prospect of job diversion, especially in support roles. Globalization also means that other centres such as Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai etc would grow in stature and staff would be relocated closer to customers and markets.
In the opposite direction there are forces that might in the long run strengthen the role as hub and nerve centre coordinating and directing the regional centres. Higher Value-added roles might well be concentrated in the UK - if politics and regulation are creating a business-friendly environment.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/bank-jobs-are-bleeding-out-of-london--and-brexit-hasnt-even-kicked-in-yet.html

A Dim View of Investment Consultants

How Wall Street Gets Rich Off Savers - Bloomberg

Bitcoin Hype - Regulators asleep or afraid

Given the thousands of pages of detailed regulation that has been produced in all major industrial countries one has to wonder why the Regulators are keeping stumm about the Bitcoin craze. Claims that thses 'coins' are Digital 'Currencies' are clearly misleading (try selling a 'Digital House', or a 'Digital' Brooklyn Bridge). Neither are they a safe haven, they are digital assets and given the way they are offered and promoted they are investments and as such should be brought under regulatory umbrellas.
(22-Aug-2017)
The price of Bitcoin and Ethereum is slipping but Bitcoin Cash is rising

Bitcoin hype - stop calling it a 'Currency'

Tulips, Tulips anyone, or maybe you want to buy a Bridge? Play the hype but please stop calling Bitcoin a currency. All sorts of stuff served as currency at one time (shells, salt for example) but currency is what is generally accepted in payments at the time. So Gold is no longer a currency, neither are shells or salt.
Bitcoin hits another record high, value has risen over $15 billion in one week alone

Goldman Sachs is scaling back market-making for exchange-traded funds

This will not make it easier to maintain orderly markets if and when the tide turns and markets enter a bear market. Markets move faster on the downside and panic is never far away then, even more so now that global markets are linked by ultra-fast communication and the crowd/herd effect can accerate trends.
Goldman Sachs is scaling back its role as a lead market maker for exchange-traded funds

Goldman Sachs is scaling back trading exchange-traded funds

This will not make it easier to maintain orderly markets if and when the tide turns and markets enter a bear market. Markets move faster on the downside and panic is never far away then, even more so now that global markets are linked by ultra-fast communication and the crowd/herd effect is easily generated.

Goldman Sachs is scaling back its role as a lead market maker for exchange-traded funds

Impressions from Paris - Europlace Conference

This year more than in other years this annual event was to be interesting given the fact that Brexit is in full swing (or not if you listen to Remainers and assorted moaners). So the lack of a strong attendance by non-French visitors was a surprise. Naturally the locals did their best to put Paris in a good light. Not so sure about the 'City of Love' as some panelists did not forget to mention. But then why has prostitution then be made illegal in 2016? Cannot be so good for love!
On a more serious note one has to accept that Paris was a large financial centre before Brexit. How much it will be able to add now is not so clear. Most market professionals may speak English so incoming staff may be able to fit in, but their private lives may not be so easy. Nice property is as expensive as in London, and finding a house with garden will be a struggle. And giving preferential tax treatment to financial staff - and only the heavy hitters among the foreigners - may not go all too well with 'Fraternite' as it is a blatantly discriminatory law (do the EU and the ECJ dare to intervene?)
Dublin, Frankfurt are already busy nibbling on London's cake and only time will tell how much they can grab. Will financial firms be more efficient if they spread themselves thin all over Europe? Communication is cheap, but lack of face-to-face interaction will do little to improve either the work climate or coordination.

EU Regulators Take Aim At London's Asset-Management Industry

No surprise there, EU is basically a protectionist racket, dominated by socialist parties and lobbies, where even pseudo right wing parties are praying from the same hymn sheet and embrace big government. Also means that the UK has to negotiate harder, I suggested a while ago that if local production would be required for asset management services then the same rule should be applied to manufactured goods. So come on BMW, Daimler, start producing in the UK. And someone has to tell the Eurocracy: keep your MIFID and Financial Transaction Tax nonsense!
EU Regulators Take Aim At London's Asset-Management Industry

Soothing Words about ETF - But Liquidity disappears when we need it most

The market does provide super liquidity that one could never imagine in the past. But when the music stops there will NOT be enough chairs! This type of complacency makes a major debacle even more likely. How many (highly paid) risk managers are really prepared for nearly instantaneous price changes of 20-25 % in all major markets? Tiny slivers of margin will just not be enough to cushion the blow, esp when some potholes open up and a player (or players) fail.
Junk Bond ETFs Are the Future. That's a Good Thing. - Bloomberg

NYC proposes to prohibit asking candidates about current salary

Not clear why Messrs. Schwarzman (Blackstone) and Corbat (Citigroup) would have any objection. All prospective employers need to know is what salary a job candidate expects.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/business/dealbook/job-salary-pay-women-men-wall-street.html?_r=0

Money laundering laws - waste of money and attack on privacy

Anti Money Laundering laws - nearly as useless as the attack on alcohol during the 1920s in the USA. And instigated from the same legislative mob!
Money laundering laws also harm the innocent - Washington Times

Outsourcing without limits?

Should national and supranational regulation allow the unconstrained outsourcing of vital enterprise functions? Information Technology is no longer a low skill 'back-office' job but a vital ingredient of today's business. And this applies more than ever to the finance industry where security is more important than in most other lines of business.
Job-Spirale nach unten: First London, dann Zürich - Inside Paradeplatz

Credit Ratings - still no reform

While regulators have produced tons of paper simple and effective reform of Credit Rating Agencies has not happened.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2969086

Is big better in Money Management Biz?

Bigger does not necessarily mean better. Big fund managers did something right otherwise they would not be big. But that could also be their undoing. Once you manage billions you are going to find it very difficult to achieve any out performance. That will mean that smaller firms will find room to grow.
Big money managers are squeezing smaller ones at worst possible time - Business Insider

EU wants a ban on UK firms setting up Brexit shell companies

So what is supposed to be a 'Shell Company'? Are the Eurocrats going to prescribe the exact number of jobs that have to be hired by a subsidiary? As I repeatedly said - starting in Feb 2016 - one has to look at the different business lines in detail. M+A businesses are quite often already on the ground in the 'Rest EU'. One office should be enough, same can be said for most other finance businesses.
EU wants a ban on UK firms setting up Brexit shell companies

Goldman Sachs Charity donations

The honrable thing - do good and do not talk about it!

Room to Read Goldman Sachs party - Business Insider