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
Investigations
Probe into NY Fed over AIG disclosure - Financial Times
Bank bail-out alternatives sought - BBC
An Exclusive Peek Inside Citi's Banks of the Future - Fast Company
HSBC chief Green attacks big bank bonuses - The Telegraph
Computer-driven trading raises meltdown fears - Financial Times
Quick View: You’re kidding, more US exchanges? - Financial Times
The looming deleveraging challenge - McKinsey
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

Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...