The Role of HR: To Out The Megalomaniacs?

The Question That All Bankers Should Be Asking: Why Are We Here?

The following article was originally published in the October edition of The Journal of Business Compliance.

INTRO: Jonathan Ledwidge is an author and risk professional with more than 20 years experience in investment banking and has strong views and undeniably good questions. In this opinion article, the first under the Speakers Corner column of the Journal, he asks questions of everyone in the corporate world, not merely bankers, but industrialists, regulators and all those associated with the formation of governance frameworks, the promotion of meaningful corporate culture and their implementation. He considers the many pitfalls into which a generation of business and political leaders have fallen and the consequences these have had on regulation and internal control practices. The scandals that have come to light within the banking sector have overshadowed scandals of corruption and misselling in other industries that just as crucially require answers and reflections of the existential question: Why are we here?

“Tell me again Maximus, why are we here?”

JP Morgan Whale Trade Losses: Important Lessons For Auditors And Risk Professionals

Some more information has come to light on the more than $7 billion “Whale Trade” derivative losses at JP Morgan—that total being comprised of an amount of over $6 billion in losses on the trade and a further amount of almost $1 billion in fines.

In an article on Bloomberg entitled JP Morgan’s Biggest Mistake, author William D Cohan provides us with somewhat of an insider’s overview on the problems that led to the Whale Trade losses—his sister-in-law sat on the Audit Committee. This article summarises some of Cohan’s main points and identifies the lessons that auditors and other risk professionals should be learning in order to avoid making similar mistakes.

The top five unlearned lessons of the financial crisis

The above entitled article on Reuters was written by Bethany McLean, one of the authors of the book “The Smartest Guys In The Room”, which eventually became an Academy Award nominated documentary about the wiles of Enron.

The article makes for exceptional reading and is a must for those involved with the banking industry and especially those involved in risk, audit, finance and compliance. I highly recommend it to all. Please use the link below to access it.

The top five unlearned lessons of the financial crisis

Are We On The Verge Of Another Financial Crisis?

Are we on the verge of another financial crisis?

It is a question well worth asking as the prices of stocks and property have been sky high by central bankers flooding the markets with cheap money.

What should risk professionals do?

The first question for risk managers, internal auditors and finance professionals is; how much of the cheap and plentiful liquidity provided by Quantitative Easing, or QE as it is known, has gone into inflating asset prices—stocks, bonds and housing?

The second question is: how far will asset prices fall when the Fed and the Bank of England start to “taper” or reduce their QE and how will that impact my institution?

Bank Risk Culture: Now For Something Completely Different

The following is the fourth in a series of articles on bank risk culture. The previous articles can be accessed here or by clicking the HOME tab on the blog.

Thus far in this series on bank risk culture we are beginning to understand that there is really no such thing as a separate bank or organisational risk culture and that cultural change cannot be invoked by merely adding more rules and regulations.

Can You Trust Your Auditor?

Audited financial statements are supposed to provide a solid foundation for financial markets. Yet, they increasingly appear incapable of delivering what is needed—a reliable assessment of an organization’s financial position. Is there any hope for change?

The recent history of professional accountancy and audit firms has been far from glorious. Audited financial statements are supposed to provide shareholders, investors and creditors with an independent and objective assessment of an organization’s health. The financial crisis of 2008, the aftershocks of which are still being felt all over the world, made audited financial statements look like they were not worth the paper they were written on. 

Clearing The Bull on the Financial Crisis – Part I

We can never legislate or regulate our way to sustainable banking—the industry needs to adopt a new strategic business model

Déjà vu All Over Again

“They came on in the same old way and we sent then back in the same old way”.

They were the words the Duke of Wellington used to describe the repeated and futile attempts by Napoleon’s Grand Armée to break through the British defenses at Waterloo.

They can equally be used to describe the current prescriptions for the subprime crisis.

We remain mired in the unenviable position where those who know about banking are firmly wedded to the same old solutions, while those who don’t know about banking i.e. some in the mass media and certain politicians, resort to populist rhetoric. Sadly, the debate on the subprime crisis has generated more heat than light.

It is time for something different. However, before we move forward with a new prescription we need to better define the problem.