Do you ever wonder why banking, more than any other industry, is so prone to instability? Why, nearly ten years … Continue reading “Review: ‘The End of Alchemy’ by Mervyn King”

One of the main objectives of post-crisis financial regulation has been the severing of the nexus between large banks and … Continue reading “The bank-sovereign nexus is alive and well”

The European Commission has released its plan for an EU-wide deposit insurance scheme that will, at first, back up and … Continue reading “The Eurozone’s deposit insurance scheme creates more problems than it solves”

Earlier this month American Banker’s Mayra Rodríguez Valladares reported on what she regarded as “a bleak winter for financial reformers … Continue reading “Crony capitalism cannot be ‘tamed’ with more regulation”

The British government is right to be examining ways of shielding taxpayers from the costs of bank failure. However, proposals … Continue reading “Plan to ring-fence banks misguided”

Although the Spanish government refuses to tell the truth to the citizenry, both the government and the banks have clearly … Continue reading “The Spanish bailout is no solution at all”

There is some sense in the EU’s new plans to change the way in which banks are regulated. In particular, … Continue reading “EU bank regulation: less is more”

Capitalism has a problem. Increasingly it is viewed as a deeply unfair system favouring a small, privileged elite at the … Continue reading “Politicians are to blame if we have crony capitalists”

Since fox-hunting became illegal, banker bashing has become a new blood sport. Not only is the typical banker portrayed as … Continue reading “The social role of banks is banking”