A particularly hard hitting description of what the US sees as the problem in the world economy, i.e. China’s accumulation of US denominated investments thus keeping the US dollar strong and the Yuan weak.  While it is framed as a global recovery issue, it strikes my untrained eye as a US centric problem.  Long read but interesting if you are curious about the intricacies of the current headlines. Ben Bernanke – Rebalancing the Global Recovery Chairman Ben S. Bernanke At the Sixth European Central Bank Central Banking Conference, Frankfurt, Germany November 19, 2010 Rebalancing the Global Recovery The global economy … Continue reading Rebalancing the Global Recovery | Bernanke

An interesting case and example of the fall out from the sub prime crisis.  BankAtlantic is the main topic, but also noted are Countrywide, Bank of America, and Merrill Lynch.  The Countrywide  proposed settlement is the second-largest securities settlement of 2010 at $624 million. Barroway Topaz and Labaton Sucharow “The trial opened a most revealing window into fundamentally dishonest reports BankAtlantic made to its stockholders about the riskiness of its land portfolio,” said Barroway Topaz partner Andrew Zivitz, who along with partner Matthew Mustokoff shared trial duties with the Labaton Sucharow firm. “The jury’s award represents a clear rebuke for … Continue reading Securities litigation forms another aspect of the fall-out of the sub-prime crisis

Best definition of Quantitative Easing.  Clearly written by some smart people and worth the 6 minutes of your time.  Great use of smart humour to explain complexity.   Continue reading “So you mean the Goldman Sachs can front run the Fed?” | QE explained

When I read this the first time I thought the idea of a 2 tier system was wrong but on reflection and considering the banks they use as examples outside the TBTF (Too Big to Fail) group, the more it makes sense. G20 draws up 2 tier bank plan | ft.com Nonetheless, the G20 will press ahead with the creation of two separate systemic bank lists, the first with an estimated 20 global banks whose failure would pose a risk to the international financial system. The ­second would be a country-by-country list of banks that are systemically important within their … Continue reading G20 leans towards an ineffective bank by bank solution approach

Continuing along the theme of ‘medicine for modern finance’ here is another pointer that better approaches are sought, but not before we can understand what is wrong with the current system. You only have to look at Cleveland to understand something is not right. On the recent interview of Premier Wen of China by Fareed Zakaria. Fareed asked his usual final question of which books Wen recommended. One of the choices was the unusual one of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, by Adam Smith. In the interview it came out that ‘Moral Sentiments’ was written 17 years earlier than Wealth … Continue reading Another example seeking better ways for the modern economy

Aite Group have a new report on bill payment co-authored by Ron Shevlin. While the headline is regarding the expected uptick in mobile payments, some other numbers caught my eye. How Americans Pay Their Bills: Sizing and Forecasting Bill Pay Channels and Methods, 2010-2013 | Aite “There’s an emerging segment of consumers—which we call Smartphonatics—that will lead to an increase in the use of the online and mobile channels for paying bills,” says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with Aite Group and co-author of this report. “These young and affluent consumers are chomping at the bit to use their smartphones, and … Continue reading The state of US bill payment channels | Aite

Five years ago Ray Ozzie wrote his famous memo on internet services disruption in 2005, following his becoming chief architect at Microsoft when Bill Gates left. Ozzie is leaving Microsoft now under unclear circumstances but his departure is accompanied by a new memo as it turns out. In the intervening five years, I cannot help but be disappointed notwithstanding the gains that Microsoft has made. Windows and Office have both improved dramatically (think Vista) and I no longer equate bloat to Microsoft products. But those gains had nothing to do with the content of the 2005 memo. That memo was … Continue reading Ray Ozzie does another memo