Uncategorized

French and German banks have almost $1 trillion exposure to Southern European economies according to a Bank of International Settlements (BIS) report released last Monday (Download BIS report). “Exposures” include loans, loan commitments, and derivatives contracts, and represent the cost to the banks if there were a default. All in all, Europe's banks have almost…

Could we have forecast the credit crisis?  Yes.  Lots of thoughts on this, including last week's comment, but here's some more new stuff. Ten years ago in the US of A, Sandy Weill put great pressure on Bill Clinton's office to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act with some success.  This was because Sandy had a vision…

Just found a psychology blog and thought I would look up what articles they have on the psychology of money, one of our favourite subjects. Interesting headlines … People will spend more money when they feel down, but are often unaware of it Spending money on other people makes us happier than spending it on…

I love finding websites that provide fodder for the blog, such as jokes and quotes. When you find both, it’s even better, so here’s thirty of my favourite funny quotes about money, finance and banking courtesy of Karlonia.com: Money can’t buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery. —…

Australians call Brits Poms.  More appropriately spelt, it would be POHMs: Prisoners of Her Majesty. They think we're a whiny, cynical and sarcastic nation of complainers which, of course, we are and this is no better demonstrated that the refreshingly honest new book by John O’Farrell: An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain, or Sixty…

One of my holiday books – I’m so geeky dull when it comes to banking – is Traders, Guns and Money, Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives, by Satyajit Das. It was recommended to me a while ago, and has been sitting on the bookshelf ever since, like so many books I…