January 7, 2013
Being good at something means getting the job done right and getting it done on time. In my first interview with an Investment Bank, I was asked about working long hours and weekends. “Look, I don’t know anything about this business and I am sure there might be reasons why sometimes, long hours and weekends […]
January 2, 2013
Welcome back. Happy New Year and here’s to a really upbeat 2013. For the banks, 2012 was perhaps best captured by the word of the year “omnishambles”, which our American cousins would translate to FUBAR. Bankers slipped on every available banana skin. In 2013, things have got to get better One of those leading the […]
December 11, 2012
We have all heard about cars having defects and the likes of Toyota having to do a so called “recall”. When you read those stories, your thoughts may be similar to mine: “Fair enough, there is a recognised problem, they have to pay to put it straight.” Banking has its own “product liability”, which can […]
December 3, 2012
Last week the FSA ruled on the UBS rogue trader case and fined the bank some £30 million (for detail see: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/final/ubs-ag.pdf). For those who work in a bank, I would suggest reading this in its entirety. Having read it, a few overarching points come to my mind. Failure to learn: Points 17 & 19 […]
November 30, 2012
BOBO. Back-Office to Back-Office reconciliation. This is the last of the three reconciliation areas. There are three types of rec that I would place in this group; d open trades, confirmations and positions. Both are essential and both are a vital, daily controls. Before we delver into any detail, a word of apology. This week’s […]
November 19, 2012
FOBO. Front-Office to Back-Office reconciliation. This is a vital, daily control that is designed to ensure that what the traders are trading off is the same as what is recorded in the firm’s processing systems and ledgers. There are various components to the reconciliation: Positions: a trader might just be long 1’000 shares of Apple. […]