July 30, 2012

FT, why do you go so much softer on regulators than on bankers?

JP Morgan Chase’s recent losses, Barclays’ manipulation of Libor, RBS’s IT failures and the money laundering assistance provided by HSBC, though all absolutely unpardonable, some most probably criminal, amount, in terms of real damages to the economy, to not more than some pick-pocketing, when compared to the harm that the bank regulations did, with their capital requirements for banks based on perceived risks already cleared for. 

All of which makes me wonder again, for the umpteenth time, why the Financial Times treats the bureaucrats of financial regulations with kid gloves when compared to how they treat the bad bad bankers, as for instance in Patrick Jenkins’ and Brooke Master’s “London’s precarious position” July 30, 2012.