August 25, 2012

No! The real “masters of the universe”, those self-appointed, those full of hubris, are the bank regulators.

Sir, Jonathan Ford refers to the bosses of hedge funds who manage about 10 percent of investment funds worldwide as and that in reference to these “it is hard to avoid the impression that hubris is a factor”, “The master of the universe are playing a loser´s game", August 25. 

Forget it! If there are some who can be defined as masters of the universe full of hubris, that is the bank regulators who play risk managers for the world, and on their own, without consulting with anyone, dole out the risk-weights which determine the capital requirements for the banks. 

In doing so, the regulatory nannies have caused obese and dangerous bank exposures to whatever was considered officially as absolutely “not-risky”, and anorexic bank lending to whatever was considered officially as “risky” like unrated small businesses and entrepreneurs. 

If hedge fund bosses do wrong, their clients lose, but when bank regulators do wrong, massively, and on a massive global scale, as they have done, then everyone loses, starting with those who as a result will become unemployed and those who might never ever get an employment. 

PS. “The Challenge