July 31, 2012
Suicide, or at least attempted suicide, is the inspiration for this week’s Blog post. Iowa in the mid-West of the USA is a long way from the financial capitals of the world, but a local tragedy provides a lesson for everybody who works in financial services. The Story PFGBest aka Pergrine is a small brokerage […]
July 10, 2012
“What gets measured gets managed.” That saying is as well known in banking as it is in any other industry. Less well articulated is the obvious first derivative of that: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Sometimes in banking we do that well; we are pretty good at differentiating between what is […]
July 6, 2012
I have commented in previous posts on the important role that allocations play in driving good behaviour . They are though not the global panacea for all banking ills; no degree of sophistication would have influenced the current trifecta of bad behaviour in the financial markets around LIBOR fixing (sic), IT snafus at RBS or […]
June 12, 2012
Who should pay? What is my allocation and why? This is a really difficult topic. Firstly, because although it is about numbers it is not about math, there is not an absolutely right answer. Secondly, because it is pretty much unheard of to have a situation of harmony and contentment around this. Banking generally and […]
June 4, 2012
The Queen is celebrating her diamond jubilee and that seems a great moment to talk a little about doing things properly and dealing well with those all important cultural differences. A little more light hearted than usual, this week we focus on how things may not be quite what you expect when dealing with parts […]
May 25, 2012
The phrase “when in Rome” is most often used to describe how one ought to adapt to local norms and culture. Years ago, a good friend from days on the Salomon Brothers training programme coined a spoof on this: “When in Rome, drive like a Parisian”, no doubt alluring to the fact that inside every […]