Financial Services Authority

Oct

2012

Did Martin Wheatley Read our Blog?

Martin Wheatley of the UK’s Financial Services Authority on Friday announced plans to overhaul Libor, which has been at the center of a rate-fixing scandal involving Barclays and other major banks. Wheatley called for significant changes in the way Libor is set, and encouraged reform of other commonly used benchmarks with similar weaknesses - something Risk Matters flagged weeks ago. Maybe Wheatley saw the post? Read More

Aug

2012

How to Fight a Regulator

Crisis, Financial Services

Peter Sands, CEO of U.K. bank Standard Chartered, got to live the fantasy of every bank CEO whose institution is accused of wrongdoing by regulators. He hit back. You could almost hear the cheering erupt from Wall Street and the City of London. But will his defense hold? (more…) Read More

Jan

2012

Does culture matter?

Crisis, Financial Services, Taking & Managing Risk

There’s long been a debate about whether a company’s culture makes any difference in how it performs. Culture often is derided as the “soft stuff” that is nice to have but not really essential to a company’s success. Indeed, Sandy Weill once famously quipped that culture was “something they put in yogurt.” (Of course, we know how things turned out at Citigroup.) Research by Professor Jim Heskett of the Harvard Business School has demonstrated the value of a strong corporate culture. He estimates that companies with effective cultures outperform their peers by as much as 30%. But there’s now evide... Read More