- Evolution Test – I just don't get it. Is evolution really that hard? How can you misunderstand it so badly that you can come up with this list of questions and think it proves… well, anything? (Part of me hates to single out this site as there are dozens, if not hundreds, of similar ones.)
- Crash Could Free Up Wall Street's Grip on Bright Young Minds – "But the big paychecks came with what economists call opportunity costs. Instead of spending their days searching for exotic trades, some of these Wall Street wizards could've been creating drugs, imagining software, or solving energy problems."
- The Norway Lesson: The Benefits of Good Financial Behavior – "Norway made it a point to budget, to save, and to protect against unnecessary risk. Then, it went on to buy when everyone else was selling." Any other country would have spent all earnings from oil on tax cuts (that's what happened with North Sea Gas in the UK), but Norway did the smart thing.
Tag Archives: finance
My del.icio.us bookmarks for January 1st through January 3rd
- Banking disaster man honored by the Queen – The man who lost the personal data of 25mm people is rewarded with a CBE. Does that make any kind of sense? Anywhere other than the civil service he’d lose his job!
- Paris and Berlin ban cafe smoking – Definite progress. Does the reference to Nazi policies in Germany prove that Godwins Law (“As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”) also applies to the real world?
- The Electric Car Conspiracy … that never was – Interesting film. Given the spread of Smart cars here I have to think that there would be consumer demand for electric cars, which only leaves the conspiracy…
MiFID Muddle
To most readers here I think I’m right in saying that the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive won’t mean much. It’s some new Europe-wide legislation designed to help regulate financial transactions.
Stop yawning. Please. Come back! This isn’t going to be completely dry and boring, honest.
So, anyway, one of its major elements is a concept called “best execution.” This isn’t a choice between a firing squad or a noose. The idea is that a trader has to be able to prove that they made the best deal, with the right people, at the best price. (On a serious note, I think this is a sensible idea, I’m just not convinced that regulation is the right way to achieve it.)
Unfortunately, speaking as an English man, I think we’re are at a disadvantage here. The Germans are efficient, so it shouldn’t be a problem in Frankfurt. The French probably don’t care what everyone else is doing, so I’m sure Paris will be fine. And the Italians are normally very outgoing and gregarious anyway. They probably speak to every trader at every bank just because they can. No, Milan will be fine.
But “best” could be a problem in London. Here our stiff upper lips and world-renouned reserve might prevent us from saying that we’re the best at anything. We should really be aiming for “pretty decent execution,” with a “quite good” counterpart at a “not too shabby” price. Although, to some, that still might be considered gushing.
It’s important that laws that affect multiple countries are made in a culturally sensitive manner and, as I think I’ve made clear, this is not the case with MiFID.