Financial Times News - Gillian Tett Column

Could sovereign debt be the new subprime?

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:35:29 GMT

Afew weeks ago, Claudio Borio, head of research at the Bank for International Settlements, wrote warned in a solemn note to Group of 20 leaders that modern financial policymakers are "driving while just looking in the rear-view mirror": western finance officials have focused so much on past risks that they fail to spot new dangers.

Philanthropy takes on bank bashing

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:55:17 GMT

What exactly was going through the brain of Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs , this week when the bank announced a $500m initiative to help small US businesses?

The sweet fix of CoCos?

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:50:25 GMT

Could a nice cup of Cocos be the sweet fix that regulators desperately need to solve the "Too Big to Fail" problem? That is a question being furtively whispered right now, on both sides of the Atlantic

Insight: The sweet fix of CoCos

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:35:40 GMT

Flood initiative shows cross-border risk

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:30:17 GMT

As financial policymakers from the Group of 20 countries gathered in Scotland, there was a debate about policy reform - and the lessons that financiers should learn from past banking disasters.

Insight: The clearing house rules

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:25:28 GMT

For the last year, as politicians have grappled to get their heads around the perils of complex finance, many have been seeking a handy magic wand that might produce a reform fix (or, at the very least, give them something they can explain, and wave to voters on prime time television.)

Insight: Lessons learned in Singapore

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:30:25 GMT

If you talk to financiers in Singapore these days, the topic of property prices keeps cropping up but, unlike in America, it is not the threat of further real estate market falls.

Michael Moore must leave US to find new elite

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:05:42 GMT

Global equity strategists do not often star in Hollywood films. Right now, however, that fate has befallen Ajay Kapur, an analyst who formerly worked for Citi.

Insight: Dangers of silo thinking

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:25:31 GMT

When Larry McDonald, a former bond trader at Lehman Brothers, recently wrote an exposé of that broker's collapse, it seems that his main intention was to reveal the extraordinary folly and ineptitude of the former Lehman bosses.

Fiscal storm engulfing Caymans is set to spread

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:25:13 GMT

The gods of global tax do not often have a sense of humour. Right now, however, they might chuckle at a little storm that has hit the Cayman Islands.

Gillian Tett: JPMorgan and the new masters of the universe

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:20:09 GMT

In recent years, a subtle caste system has existed on Wall Street and in the City. Top of the pecking order, in terms of pay and status, were the investment bankers - particularly those Masters of the Universe who made huge profits by devising complex financial trades in the realm of cyber finance.

Lunch with the FT: David Hare

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:35:25 GMT

It is lunchtime on Tuesday, September 15, the first anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, and the playwright David Hare is waiting for me in a café-cum-lifestyle store in Notting Hill, west London. The place bustles with the well-groomed wives of financiers, and is owned by Hare's own well-groomed wife, the French-born designer Nicole Farhi.

Insight: The ghosts of AIG prosper

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:40:13 GMT

Could another AIG-style disaster shake the financial markets again? It is not an entirely idle question. This month, there has been plenty of hand-wringing about the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse. But behind the scenes the issue of AIG - and its links to the credit derivatives market - is currently provoking even more debate among some finance officials.

Watch what Barclays does in the cellar

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:15:13 GMT

A couple of years ago, when structured investment vehicles were sowing devastation in the financial world, I frantically searched for a way to explain to non-financiers how these entities worked. The analogy I resorted to was a garage or cellar.

Challenge to globalisation

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:40:21 GMT

Six months ago, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association - the trade body that champions complex finance - held its annual meeting in Beijing.

Market Insight: Banks can learn from football

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:05:18 GMT

I don't know whether Lloyd Blankfein is a fan of English football. Right now, however, the head of Goldman Sachs might do well to peek at Chelsea football club.

Insight: A matter of retribution

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:35:25 GMT

How many financiers do you think ended up in jail after America's Savings and Loans scandals? The answer can be found in a fascinating, old report from the US Department of Justice*.

Does the world need a global 'Tobin' tax?

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:30:18 GMT

Does the world need a global "Tobin" tax? That is the question buzzing around London's financial circles this week.

Insight: Eliminate financial double-think

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:20:18 GMT

A decade ago, it was fashionable for Western consultants, bankers and business people to decry Japan's domestic service industry. For Japanese business sectors, ranging from milk production to financial broking, have long been plagued by complex distribution chains and numerous middlemen.

Idea of 'living wills' is likely to die quiet death

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:55:21 GMT

Preparing a will is usually an emotionally charged experience. After all, no one really wants to ponder their demise when they are in the prime of health. Nor is it pleasant to spell out difficult issues such as how to divide up all the family silver - or not.

Global insight: New world of supply chains

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:45:30 GMT

What do securitised mortgages and manufacturing supply chains have in common? Not a lot, it may seem. After all, the art of repackaging debt is part of the arcane field of complex finance, while the business of shipping widgets round the world is a tangible, get-your-hands-dirty activity.

Insight: Pipes remain clogged

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:15:20 GMT

A decade ago, I was working as a reporter in Tokyo when I was asked to investigate the impact of Japanese-style quantitative easing. Back then, the Bank of Japan was pouring gazillions of yen into the money markets and politicians were angrily exhorting the Japanese banks to lend.

Global Insight: Localisation back in fashion

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:40:20 GMT

In some offices in the US Treasury, there are framed posters that exhort the country's population to buy American government bonds as part of their patriotic duty.

Uncertainty is order of the day

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:30:19 GMT

Jim O'Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, has recently been sounding out the US bank's clients over their inflation fears.

How Markit turned from a camera into an engine

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:35:29 GMT

When Lance Uggla, an entrepreneurial bond trader, created Markit back in 2001, he could have had little inkling that it would one day enter the US political spotlight.