Some respected online financial sites have recently taken down more than 100 “research” articles anonymously written. The noise of this conflicted commentary, often in the guise of research, threatens to distort share prices and swamp markets. While much of this problem has been focused on the US, UK and European companies are also covered on […]
Continue reading
Archive | Comment RSS feed for this section
The ethics of soft closure. Are emerging markets funds really closed?
March 12, 2014 
0 Comments
The rout of emerging markets has exposed some serious ethical issues. As the crisis progresses, investors are still getting little more than soothing words from most managers. Much of this pays little heed to the change in outlook for the BRICs or the turmoil in emerging Europe. Few managers highlighted the risks in Ukraine, for […]
Continue readingIs the Forex market beyond control?
October 22, 2013 1 Comment
How big is too big to rig? Can the scale of a market put it beyond anyone’s ability to manipulate? Forex trading may soon answer these questions, as investigations into possible breaches begin on both sides of the Atlantic. Even a market that trades $5.3 trillion per day may not be beyond the ability of […]
Continue readingKey themes from the Final Report of UK Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards
June 18, 2013 0 Comments
A global financial sector within a medium-sized economy A comprehensive report, for the most part well argued and with some practical proposals for improving banking. But in some parts the Commission seems to go beyond its remit, and sets out some ideas that would be hard to implement, or could conflict with existing initiatives. RBS […]
Continue readingReuters market commentary; don’t bet on a setback
February 15, 2013 0 Comments
My comments on Reuters. Despite the recent strong run, there may not be a pullback. Investors are rotating into industrials in expectation that weaker £ will boost earnings. http://t.co/20fQGyBm
Continue reading
Behavioural Edge 
When will the ECB crack down on banks’ related party lending?
Will the European Central Bank’s asset quality review spot all the problem banks? Asset quality is a risk factor in the European Banking Authority (EBA) Comprehensive Assessment, but regulators may be missing a key underlying pattern in failure. Banco Espirito Santo has highlighted the issue of inter-related lending: loans to shareholders, affiliates and related parties. […]
Continue reading →