Some years ago, a wise CEO for whom I worked, was looking over an applicant's curriculum vitae. We needed an affordable lawyer, if that is not a contradiction. After a few moments, and with increasing exasperation that it had reached him, he threw it aside saying it is impossible to have this experience at so young an age. I thought about this while reading about the Deutsche Bank trader, censured for over-stating his position by $30M. As the Financial Times put it "The world of synthetic collateralised debt obligations and of so-called correlation trading is incredibly complex and fast-moving. New products, some of them very illiquid and difficult to trade are created all the time .... But it often leaves senior managers and executives casting around for advice from independent experts about the actions of their subordinates". I think we are confusing jargon with complexity, but what struck me more was that the trader in question is 26. I started thinking about right-livelihood, the fifth path on the noble eightfold way.
Later I read about Macquarie Bank's hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange, "The bank's bid document revealed the offer to be one of Europe's most highly leveraged ever. The £1.5bn deal is being financed with £1.28bn of debt". Leveraged indeed! So why Macquarie? If we must sell the family silver, why not a UK "vehicle".
A mad world. I must stop reading the FT.
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