Saturday, August 15, 2009

FSA screw it up again

The FSA is irredeemably compromised. It has been captured by the financial services industry. As such, taxpayers can not rely on it to properly supervise banks. It must be abolished, with all its powers returned to the Bank of England.

This story from the FT, which highlights the government's disapointment with the FSA's so called crackdown on bonuses, further emphasises the need to abolish this pathetic institution as soon as possible.

Senior cabinet ministers are so disappointed with the Financial Services Authority’s new pay rules, released this week, they are considering whether legislation may be needed to crack down on bankers’ bonuses.

A number of ministers, including Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, are understood to be unhappy with the City regulator’s remuneration code, which toned down some earlier suggested measures.

Lord Mandelson thinks the guidelines, intended to reduce reckless risk-taking, have failed to reflect public concerns that the City is returning to “business as usual” after receiving billions in state support.

“Excessive risk taking had the results that we saw. Ordinary businesses are paying the price,” he said in an interview. “We have not heard the last word on this subject.”

His views are shared by other senior ministers, who suggest legislation may be needed to control short-term incentives for bankers unless the FSA shows it can pursue a tougher line.

8 comments:

  1. The corrupt berating the corrupt.Why do they even bother.

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  2. Had lunch a few years back with a woman newly hired to a hot shot job at the FSA. We talked about the gig, her views on the economy etc. She was totally clueless about the risks to the economy and what was going on. We then moved on to her hire package: a palatial flat, massive salary, travel, it was lush. I can imagine she has been living it large.

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  3. Wrong thread, but there is a great chart on Mish's blog at the moment:

    http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/08/collapse-of-ownership-society.html

    TimG

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  4. Moan moan moan. Typical Alice - the politics of envy.

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  5. Hmm Anon at 2:53. I recently heard a spokesperson from the upper echelons of Barclays bank explain on the radio that he believed in a free market. So do I. The banks went bust. They fucked up. They should have been left to go bust. Then they can pay themselves whatever they like.

    But the taxpayers baled them out. Those taxpayers often earning the price of a bottle of Petrus in a year. Those taxpayers who pay for every bloody thing in this once great country.

    Alice is reporting the facts. That bankers heads are so far up their own arses that they think, having by their greed done this damage to the financial system, they should then get telephone number bonuses beggars belief.

    I hate Liebour. I have no time for redistribution of wealth. But the politics of natural justice should see those idiots eat humble pie.

    And the media are surprised when the people, given the choice of those same faces in different suits at westminster, do the unthinkable and elect nutters?

    The bankers should be ashamed of themselves. Not demanding bonuses.

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  6. ^ Everything this person said is spot. on.

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  7. Remarkable Alice, our government is thinking of introducing legislation to rein in what themselves practice. Greed!

    Funny how we can fork out billions to bail out incompetent bankers, stump up millions for corrupt parliamentarians who squander and ruin whatever they touch but leave our forces to go without the equipment to do the job we as a nation ask them to do.

    Perhaps this is why I loathe these S***S.

    Sorry!

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  8. It's just power - those in control of the money, especially senior bankers, pay themselves lots of it (along with those in government with their hands on tax receipts, numerous directors, CEO's etc. across all). It's just nose-in-the trough for those with access and power enough to stick their snouts in, irrespective of what they merit.

    Only when a situation of full employment is reached will power rest with the broader mass, and excess at the top be reined in somewhat. But full employment will only be reached when in real terms those doing the work are paid a lot less than they are now... so the greedy snouts will be there for many years to come, in whatever accumulations of capital and taxation exist under their control.

    B. in C.

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