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regulators
by leon on January 31, 2009
The Financial Times reports that the Obama administration is expected to come out with a "big bang" announcement next week that will see a bank clean-up, measures to reduce home foreclosure...
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risk
by leon on January 31, 2009
Rupert Murdoch is blaming the spending binge for the crisis, and warns that it will probably take some time until we emerge from it.But the reality is that his News Corporation has been hit hard by t...
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risk
by leon on January 31, 2009
Paris has broken out in violent protests over the French government's handling of the economic crisis with 65,000 demonstrators joining a march from the Place de la Bastille towards the center of...
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executive pay
by leon on January 30, 2009
The recession has not hurt the bankers. Not one bit. The New York Times reports that despite all the losses and taxpayer-funded bailouts, financial companies in New York collected an estimated $18.4 ...
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strategy
by leon on January 30, 2009
Chief executive officers are a glum lot. According to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, most CEOs around the world are expecting a long and hard recovery. The survey found that only 15% of CE...
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corporate crime
by leon on January 29, 2009
When the Bernard Madoff scandal broke, it was inevitable more Ponzi schemes would come to light. For a good reason too. With every bubble there is fraud. Look behind every bubble and you'll find ...
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SOX
by leon on January 29, 2009
It looks like the honeymoon is over for small companies.Incoming Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman Mary Schapiro says she wants small public businesses to start complying with the Sarbane...
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markets
by leon on January 28, 2009
It's the year of the axe with companies axing more than 75,000 jobs, led by Caterpillar which is sacking 20,000. For a good breakdown, check this little table from the Financial Times.The news ev...
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markets
by leon on January 27, 2009
The financial meltdown has hit the world's most prominent gabfest which kicks off in Davos today. Last year's event included Bill Gates, Bono and Queen Noor (pictured above) but this year'...
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regulators
by leon on January 26, 2009
What are Obama's options to breathe life back into the banks and get the economy going again?Basically, it boils down to three options, says the New York Post's Michael Gray.The first is to n...
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regulators
by leon on January 26, 2009
So who is responsible for the financial crisis?The Guardian's City editor Julia Finch picks out the 25 who were at the heart of the meltdown.The list is headed by former Fed chairman Alan Greensp...
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regulators
by leon on January 25, 2009
One down, how many more to go?With his country's economy melting, its three biggest banks nationalised and then placed in receivership and public anger rising, Iceland's Prime Minister Geir H...
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strategy
by leon on January 25, 2009
Some disturbing but not surprising data from the latest survey out of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press which found that the economy and job are the top two public priorities for...
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Ethics
by leon on January 23, 2009
So John Thain has finally been ousted at Merrill Lynch.But the extraordinary part about this story is about his talent for self-enrichment and arrogance beyond belief. Merrill Lynch was in serious t...
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corporate crime
by leon on January 22, 2009
The financial meltdown will result in more fraud claims and legal disputes, according to the latest report from risk management consultants Kroll.The alarming part about this report is the warning th...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 22, 2009
Earlier this month, I did a blog entry looking at why Steve Jobs' health was an issue for investors. It boils down to one simple equation: Jobs is Apple's most important asset and his health ...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 21, 2009
Satyam, labelled India's Enron, has raised a number of important questions. Not only about Indian corporate governance, which leaves a lot to be desired with The Hindu reporting that India is pla...
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markets
by leon on January 21, 2009
So Wall Street has greeted the new President by plunging 4%, the worst ever performance on inauguration day and beating the previous record set by the hopeless herbert hoover.Wall Street is telling O...
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markets
by leon on January 21, 2009
On the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration, Warren Buffett has come out saying that the US is in the grip of an "economic Pearl Harbor", not as bad as World War Two or the Great Depressi...
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markets
by leon on January 21, 2009
Don't believe oil prices, they're set to soar.At the moment, they have fallen below $35 a barrel in the face of weakening consumer demand and corporate earnings heading down the toilet.But lo...
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corporate crime
by leon on January 20, 2009
Siemens is upbeat about its chances of getting its insurers to pay a big chunk of the $1.3 billion it paid to settle corruption probes in the United States and Germany. And that's a worry because...
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strategy
by leon on January 20, 2009
It sounds counter-intuitive but there is money to be made out of debt. If you have the stomach for risk.One of the most fascinating trends of late has been the booming corporate bond market . Investo...
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litigation
by leon on January 16, 2009
The micro-blogging Twitter might be gaining 5,000 to 10,000 new accounts a day but lawyers are warning that it could be dangerous.Tresa Baldas in the National Law Journal says lawyers are warning tha...
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Accounting
by leon on January 16, 2009
With the world's markets in cardiac arrest, what are the major accounting hurdles for this year?According to a report from Moody's, How the Global Credit and Economic Crises are Affecting Acc...
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strategy
by leon on January 16, 2009
Here's a suggestion out of left field from Michael Fullilove at the Financial Times. As a cricket tragic, I agree with him totally.Fullilove argues that Obama should ditch baseball and turn to cr...
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boards of directors
by leon on January 15, 2009
With the change in government and the new Obama administration coming in, we can expect to see many more government officials moving in to the private sector as company directors. What can they offer...
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markets
by leon on January 15, 2009
I have done numerous blog entries on how long the recession will last. At the moment, it's anyone's guess, no-one really knows for sure.According to the last Duke University/CFO Magazine Glob...
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markets
by leon on January 15, 2009
One of the big drivers of this financial meltdown were the econometric models that saw mathematics guiding investor behavior.The reality is that the big drivers of bubbles are social and psychologica...
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regulators
by leon on January 14, 2009
The Arctic has long been neglected in terms of international governance and management but that's likely to change for two reasons. First, there is the prospect of rising tensions with yet to be ...
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regulators
by leon on January 14, 2009
Hedge fund managers are now conceding that Bernard Madoff has probably achieved what the Securities and Exchange Commission's Christopher Cox could never do: usher in strict new regulations for h...
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Compliance
by leon on January 12, 2009
What are the main challenges with compliance? With the worst financial crisis in more than a generation, it's a question that will weigh on the minds of corporations the world over.According to a...
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markets
by leon on January 12, 2009
With Barack Obama taking office next week, the ideas are pouring in on how to get the United States back in order again.One of the most interesting comes from Professor James C VanHorne at Stanford G...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 10, 2009
I had a conversation with KPMG's global head of citizenship and diversity Lord Michael Hastings from London. He proposed a radical shake-up of corporate governance around the world. Read on.
SOX ...
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Ethics
by leon on January 10, 2009
More than two years ago, I did a blog entry on the difference between ethics and morality. Moral decisions, around issues like theft and corruption, are absolutes regardless of time or culture. They ...
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Ethics
by leon on January 8, 2009
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, now embroiled in allegations that he tried to flog to sell President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat, and former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who wa...
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strategy
by leon on January 8, 2009
Why did Pablo Picasso end up earning more than Vincent Van Gogh? Picasso left an estate valued at $750 million, Van Gogh died a pauper.According to Professor Gregory Berns, it was all because Picasso...
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litigation
by leon on January 8, 2009
The financial meltdown is driving litigation.New data released in the Securities Class Action Filings: 2008 Year End Assessment, from Cornerstone Research and the Stanford University Law School Secur...
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markets
by leon on January 7, 2009
The market meltdown is changing consumer behavior. And it will produce a new consumer.Retailers tell me consumers are still buying, they're just not spending as much. Instead of a $20 bunch of fl...
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markets
by leon on January 7, 2009
Is a downturn a good time to start a business?It's not a bad question actually. Bill Gates didn't wait for the recession of 1974-75 to pass when he founded Microsoft. Other companies that sta...
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regulators
by leon on January 7, 2009
With President-elect Barack Obama vowing to reshape the United States financial regulatory system, something that should have been done some time ago, it is worth looking to see what lies ahead for t...
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markets
by leon on January 7, 2009
Every downturn is different and this one is no exception. That's why comparisons with previous downturns and meltdowns are meaningless. It also explains the growing number of analytic studies tha...
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Compliance
by leon on January 6, 2009
As we move towards an emission trading regime, there is one important question that companies need to sort out: who actually takes responsibility?Business faces the prospect of increased legal action...
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corporate governance
by leon on January 6, 2009
A fascinating proposal from the Relationships Foundation in Britain which would, if implemented, give corporate governance a radical overhaul in a way that we have never seen before.The foundation'...
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risk
by leon on January 5, 2009
The fallout from the Madoff scandal has left us with one important question: why do Smart People keep falling for financial pea and thimble tricks? Why do people with high IQs keep getting taken in b...
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strategy
by leon on January 4, 2009
Just before Christmas, Wikipedia was begging for cash. On December 23, its founder Jimmy Wales had put out an announcement imploring people to donate money to keep the Wikipedia phenomenon going.The ...
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regulators
by leon on January 3, 2009
Citigroup was just the beginning. The US Treasury has announced that it will use more Citi-style rescue packages to help financial institutions in deep trouble.The nation's top number crunchers r...
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risk
by leon on January 3, 2009
The Macworld 2009 confab opens on January 5 in San Francisco. Every year, it draws thousands of Macintosh faithful and it's been doing that since 1985. But this year is different. For the first t...
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markets
by leon on January 3, 2009
Who the hell do these people think they are? Banks? Car makers?Bailout-mania is gathering momentum. Now the New York Times reports that the steel industry is lining up for its share, mostly in the fo...
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strategy
by leon on January 1, 2009
Dell is in serious trouble. Its shares have fallen nearly 60% over the past 12 months and the company is desperately trying to regain the market share it ceded to Hewlett-Packard.Things have got so b...
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Accounting
by leon on January 1, 2009
The Securities and Exchange Commission has given the banking a much deserved kick in the guts by releasing a 211 page report that fends off the banks' claim that fair value created the financial ...
