risk management - Mahony Partners

Feb

2018

Remembering Two Lessons from William McDonough

Crisis

Bank regulators live in obscurity, diligently keeping the wheels of finance spinning. Then a crisis arrives, and they are thrust into view. No one embodied that more than William McDonough, former head of the NY Federal Reserve Bank, who died last week. He is perhaps best known for quelling the market panic when a big hedge fund collapsed and later guiding the Fed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. But Mr. McDonough should also be remembered for two other things. First, he was an early and vocal advocate for sound risk management and offered some simple Read More

Mar

2016

The Word a Bank CEO Should Never Use

Crisis, Financial Services

Tidjane Thiam, CEO of Credit Suisse, uttered the one word a bank chief should never say. No, it’s not of the four-letter variety, but it might as well be. (more…) Read More

Dec

2011

Refco’s ghost haunts MF Global

Financial Services

It’s impossible to read about the demise of MF Global and not think about Refco, the futures brokerage that collapsed in scandal in 2005 and whose remains were later bought by MF Global. Like Marley’s ghost, the weaknesses that played a part in Refco’s downfall returned to haunt MF Global. Refco’s problems came to light just a few months after it completed an initial public offering in August 2005 that valued the company at $3.5 billion. A short time later, the firm discovered that CEO Phillip Bennett had maintained control of a separate entity that wasn’t consolidated with Refco’s books and held $430 million in Refco debt. When Refco disclosed the debt in October 2005, just eight w... Read More