Things worth reading: 26th January 2010

Things we're reading today include:

Today's must read:

Davos 2010: Bank chiefs break cover to bend government's ear - The Telegraph
Battle lines have been drawn, with regulators, politicians and academics declaring big banks to be bad news. President Barack Obama knocked the wind out of the industry last week by calling for a ban on the banks getting involved in proprietary trading, private equity and hedge funds. On the ropes, the banks are throwing everything they have back.

 

Politicians

‘Six-figure’ hedge fund deal for Tony Blair - The Times
Brown claims transaction tax is gaining traction - The Times
Banks considered too big to fail are too important to ignore, says John McFall - The Telegraph
Myners and G7 to home in on bankers' bonuses - The Times
City minister Myners seeks review of how investment banking has 'permeated' society - The Telegraph
Barack Obama rips up the banking rule book - The Telegraph

Probe into NY Fed over AIG disclosure - Financial Times
Bank bail-out alternatives sought - BBC

Quote of the Day:

“It is particularly shocking that people do what is called stress tests by taking the worst possible past deviation as an anchor event to project the worst possible future deviation, not thinking that they would have failed to account for such deviation had they used the same method on the day before that past anchor event.”
Nassim Taleb, Author of the Black Swan