Deutsche Bank is Exhibit A in why transparency needed
Last week, the US Department of Justice announced plans to fine Deutsche Bank $14 billion for its role in creating and selling... Read More
Lending Club shows benefits of transparency
In an in-depth article on Lending Club, Bloomberg reporters highlight two of the major benefits of transparency. Lending Club is in the peer-to-peer... Read More
Confusing transparency with a risky investment
Periodically, a reporter will try to highlight why a security is a risky investment and will undermine their analysis by suggesting transparency is... Read More
Bank living wills not fit for purpose
The US Office of Financial Research released a report in which it concluded bank living wills haven’t ended the market’s perception of... Read More
EU banking supervision becoming more opaque
In an interesting post on Bruegel.org, the authors examine the trend towards more opacity in EU bank supervision. Why is this trend... Read More
Arrogance isn’t a defense
I am still amazed by the sheer amount of arrogance displayed by economists and finance professors. They remind me of the guy... Read More
PwC auditor explains why transparency is necessary
The Irish Banking Inquiry turned to the bank auditors for an explanation of how the Irish banking system collapsed. In particular, the... Read More
Wall Street’s bad behavior to continue until transparency restored
In Transparency Games, I discuss a survey by the law firm of Labaton Sucharow. It found the more Wall Street bankers are... Read More
Lender of Last Resort
A bipartisan bill has been introduced by Senators Vitter and Warren that would change how the Fed could implement its lender of... Read More
Regulators’ affinity for complex regulations
During the run-up to our recent financial crisis, deregulation was in vogue. However, since the crisis began, our global financial regulators have... Read More
Economists and transparency
There are two types of economists when the discussion turns to transparency. First, there are the economists who favor transparency. Second, there... Read More
Can bankers behave? Behind a veil of opacity, no
In an article in The Atlantic, William Cohan looks at a study conducted by three economists at the University of Zurich. The study... Read More
Opacity, mortgage bonds and ‘crap’ emails
Occasionally, investors need a reminder of why nobody makes good investment decisions when blindly betting. Recently, there have been two prominent reminders.... Read More
Is the global financial system safer?
I admit “is the global financial system safer” is a trick question. Answering it requires two pieces of knowledge: what are the... Read More
Can SEC and Initiative peacefully co-exist?
Recently, I was asked if the SEC and the Transparency Label Initiative™ can peacefully co-exist or will the SEC want to regulate... Read More