August 28, 2019

How can Eurozone’s sovereigns’ debts, not denominated in their own national/printable fiat currency, be considered 100% safe?

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Sir, Laurence Fletcher in Tail Risk of August 28, writes: “Yields on German Bunds and other major government bonds have been moving steadi...
August 22, 2019

With respect to Eurozone sovereign debts, European banks were officially allowed to ignore credit ratings.

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Sir, Rachel Sanderson writes, “Data from the Bank of Italy on holdings of Italian government debt, usually the prime conduit of contagion, ...
August 19, 2019

Risk weighted bank capital requirements are anathema to neoliberalism

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Sir, Rana Foroohar writes “we have spent decades of living in the old reality — the post-Bretton Woods, neoliberal one.” " Markets are...
August 15, 2019

Regulators forced banks into what’s perceived safe, thereby forcing the usually most risk adverse into what’s perceived risky.

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Sir, Robin Wigglesworth writes “Many investors such as pension funds and insurers [are] pushed towards the only other option: venturing int...

In 1988 one year before the Berlin Wall fell another wall was constructed, one which separated sovereign and private bank borrowings.

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Sir, I refer to Ben Hall’s “ State ownership back in vogue 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall ” August 15. The only real competitive ad...
August 12, 2019

Venezuela needs to extract its oil much more than what it needs Citgo.

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Sir, Colby Smith and Gideon Long report that “Venezuela has long been fearful of missing a payment on Citgo’s debt — the country’s only bon...

Any new IMF managing director should at least know, as a minimum minimorum, that two current important financial policies are more than dumb.

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Sir, I refer to John Taylor’s “Choice of new IMF head must not be dictated by the old EU order” August 12. I have no problems whatsoeve...
August 09, 2019

Before ECB does one iota more, we must get rid of the loony portfolio invariant credit risk weighted bank capital requirements.

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Sir, Rick Rieder writes, “A thoughtful consideration of where and how capital is being applied could have a positive influence that lasts d...
August 07, 2019

Central banks and regulators are wittingly or unwittingly imposing communism by stealth, at least in Japan.

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Sir, you refer to that Bank of Japan’s holdings of government bonds are already at more than 40 per cent of the outstanding stock… and to “...
August 05, 2019

The battle between capital and labour may be surpassed by the battle between the working class and the not working class.

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Rana Foroohar announces, “The age of wealth distribution is coming and will have major investment consequences”, “ The age of wealth accumu...

Don’t keep adding bank regulations for what is ex ante perceived risky. It is what is ex ante perceived as very safe that should concern us the most.

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Sir, I refer to Sheila Bair discussion of how much banks are to set aside in order to cover for loan losses. “ Congress should stay out of ...
July 31, 2019

If ECB’s original QEs stimuli had not been distorted by credit risk weighted bank capital requirements, there would be much less need for additional QEs.

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Sir, Claire Jones writes: “EU treaties prevent the ECB from financing member governments by buying their debt, a tactic known as monetary f...
July 18, 2019

What keeps IMF and World Bank so silent on bank regulations that go against their respective mission?

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Sir, you argue, “If the IMF and the World Bank were to disappear, the absence of their combination of expertise, credibility and cash would...
July 17, 2019

With bank regulations biased against risk taking, the oxygen of development, emerging has been made so much more difficult for nations

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Sir, I refer to Jonathan Wheatley’s report on emerging markets “ Falling further behind ” July 17.  Banks used to apportion their credi...
July 16, 2019

The case against insane globalism also remains strong.

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The purpose of the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision BCBS, established in 1974 is to encourage convergence toward common approaches a...
July 13, 2019

Should the tax on robots be high or low?

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Sir, John Thornhill writes that Carl Benedikt Frey’s “The Technology Trap” informs us that “the number of robots in the US increased by 50 ...
July 12, 2019

So if the taxman/(Big Brother) is now to get a share of the revenues some Big Tech obtain exploiting our personal data… who is going to defend us citizens?

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Sir, you deem “The ability of some of the world’s most profitable companies to escape paying fair levels of tax…unfair both to other busine...
July 11, 2019

Many or perhaps most of our bankers would be much better off, at least happier, if they heeded George Bank’s “Let’s go fly a kite!”

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Sir, John Gapper refers to “Two academics who studied investment bankers in London were surprised by their degree of cynicism and noted the...
July 10, 2019

The 0% risk weighting of sovereigns and 100% of citizens, decreed fiscal irresponsibility.

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Sir, Martin Wolf, discussing Trump’s tax cuts writes that America’s longterm fiscal position [has become] fragile”, “ Trump’s boom will pro...

Does Christine Lagarde really know about the zero risk weighting of eurozone sovereigns bomb?

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Sir, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany writes how Christine Lagarde was interrogated in 2016 about an incident while she was the finance minister in F...
July 04, 2019

Venezuela’s undernourished children urgently need a huge public debt into oil extraction conversion plan

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Sir, Colby Smith and Robin Wigglesworth report that Venezuela’s “opposition government plans to hold all its foreign creditors to the same ...
July 01, 2019

Should we tax robots low so they work for us humans, or high so that we humans remain competitive?

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Rana Foroohar references “a recent report into the US labour market conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute found that… the biggest reas...

Bank capital requirements based on credit risk serves no purpose, based on fighting climate change does.

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Sir, Ben Caldecott writes: “The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate change agreement will be unattainable unless banks...
June 30, 2019

FT, Western liberalism might not be obsolete but it sure isn’t what it was a couple of decades ago.

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Sir, with respect to Vladimir Putin’s recent claim — “that liberalism is obsolete” you opine his “triumphalism is misplaced. Not all of lib...
June 29, 2019

Compared to the Basel Committee’s, Thomas Gresham’ manipulations seem minor.

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Sir, Jerry Brotton in reference to John Guy’s biography of Thomas Gresham “Gresham’s Law: The Life and World of Queen Elizabeth I” quotes G...

To explain the 2008 financial crisis a two pieces puzzle could suffice.

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Sir, Tim Harford writes, “Raghuram Rajan, when he was chief economist of the IMF, came closest to predicting the 2008 financial crisis. He ...
June 28, 2019

Current bank regulators are closer to a Vladimir Putin type of regime, than to any possible Western world liberal idea.

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Sir, I refer to Lionel Barber’s and Henry Foy’s interview with Vladimir Putin. ‘ The liberal idea has become obsolete ’ June 28. Putin ...
June 25, 2019

In the Eurozone’s sovereign debt mine there is a choir of canaries going silent but, seemingly, that shall not be heard.

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Sir, Gideon Rachman concludes, “Almost all of the modern threats — from a resurgent Russia to climate change and trade wars — are much easi...
June 23, 2019

To have Green bonds really take off, the market signals must better assure the Green projects’ profitability.

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Sir, Siddarth Shrikanth writes:“Estimates suggest that a mere 5 to 10 per cent of green-bond proceeds have gone towards funding biodiversit...
June 21, 2019

How do you square negative rates with a 0% risk weight?

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Paul Horne writes, “It must be a fairly dire outlook to persuade investors to pay eurozone governments to hold their capital even as there ...

A real review of UK’s financial system requires breaching the etiquette rules of a mutual admiration club

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Sir, I refer to Huw van Steenis’ “ An opportunity for the Bank of England to rethink its priorities ” June 21. Is he really recommendin...
June 20, 2019

If a firefighter had seen an explosive artifact, and not done anything in four years to defuse it, would he still be a paid firefighter?

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Sir, as you might understand from my many letters to you I agree with most of what Ian Hirst opines on Martin Wolf’s article (“Weidmann cas...
June 12, 2019

The still ticking 0% Risk Weight Sovereign Debt Privilege bomb awaits Mario Draghi’s successor at ECB

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Sir, Martin Wolf, sort of implying Mario Draghi followed his recommendations, which of course could be true, holds that “Draghi did the rig...
June 09, 2019

America, warning, industrial policy fertilizes crony statism

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Sir, Rana Foroohar argues that America has chosen “to support a debt-driven, two-speed economy rather than one that prioritises income and ...
June 03, 2019

There are issues much more important for the future of the euro and the EU than who becomes Draghi’s successor at ECB

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Sir, Wolfgang Münchau holds that “Draghi’s successor needs intellectual curiosity and a willingness to admit errors” “ How not to select th...