Gillian Tett



Profile: Timeline
Full name: Gillian Tett

Area of interest: Business and Finance, Global markets

Journals: Financial Times

Email: [mailto:gillian.tett@ft.com gillian.tett@ft.com]

Personal website:

Website: FT.com / Gillian Tett

Blog:

Representation:

Networks:



Biography:
About:

Education: Cambridge University: social anthropology (PhD)

Career: Initially trained as a social anthropologist, then became a journalist while doing fieldwork in Soviet Central Asia during the era of communism in Russia. Joined the FT in 1993: worked in the economics team, posted to Tokyo in 1997, becoming bureau chief, returned to the UK in 2003 to become deputy head of the Lex column, Lex editor

Current position/role: FT's Assistant Editor, oversees global coverage of financial markets


 * also writes/written for:

Other roles:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:
 * Is Gillian Tett the most powerful woman in newspapers?, Huffington Post, 17th May 2010
 * Should Atlas still shrug? The threat that lurks behind the growth of complex debt deals - 15th January 2007 (ref: Atlas Shrugged)

TV/Radio:

Video:

Controversy/Criticism:

Awards/Honours:
 * Awarded the Wincott prize (premier British award for financial journalism), 2007 - for her coverage of capital markets
 * British Press Awards, 2008: Business and finance journalist of the year
 * British Press Awards 2009: Journalist of the year
 * 2009 Financial Book of the Year for Fool's Gold

Other:



Books & Debate:

 * Ambiguous alliances: marriage and identity in a Muslim village in Soviet Tajikstan (1996) OCLC 53570262
 * Saving the sun: a Wall Street gamble to rescue Japan from its trillion-dollar meltdown (2003) OCLC 52334991

Latest work: Fool's gold: how an ingenious tribe of bankers rewrote the rules of finance, made a fortune and survived a catastrophe OCLC 232979264, 2009. Reviewed here by Dominic Lawson.

Speaking/Appearances:
 * Seminar: Saving and Spending: Banking Crises and Consumer Confidence - third in the seminar series ‘Economic Futures: Wealth and Well-Being in the UK and Japan’, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, 13th March 2008

Current debate: 

Financial Times:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Global coverage of the financial markets

Section: Markets

Role: FT's Assistant Editor, oversees global coverage of financial markets

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:gillian.tett@ft.com gillian.tett@ft.com]

Website: FT.com / Gillian Tett

Commissioning editor:

Day published:

Regularity: Varies

Column format:

Average length:


 * see also: FT In Depth reports The Future of Capitalism



Articles: 2011

 * Beware a Hegelian touch of regulatory hubris - Nobody should promise voters a world of perfect stability, least of all created by bureaucrats. Chasing this is a mistake - 15th September
 * Debt: it’s back to the future - Back in 3,000BC, Mesopotamia would periodically protect debtors by ‘wiping the tablets clean’ - 10th September
 * Beware whacking speculators for commodity swings - Economists are sharply divided over ‘financialisation’ as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s decision deadline approaches - 9th September
 * The networking hurricane - In New York, there was no escape from the tempest of information and debate - 3rd September
 * Get used to world without ‘risk free’ rate - Rethink may be needed on cherished investment model - 2nd September
 * spreads challenging cherished notions'' - CDS world is not the only place where the relative safety of companies and governments is changing - 30th August
 * funds show true state of eurozone banks'' - Four years ago, the giant US money market funds seemed some of the dullest actors in the global financial scene but they have proved deadly - 26th August
 * Swiss enter Alice in Wonderland territory'' - The hope is that negative market rates will deter foreign buying - 15th August
 * the inner reptile'' - Periods of acute stress in the markets offer intriguing examples of how our brains work - 13th August
 * investors choose crazy Treasury returns'' - We should watch what companies are doing with spare ‘cash’ - 12th August
 * tribes and tribulations'' - What makes the recent spectacle in Washington so striking is the sheer sense of poison and lack of common meeting points - 6th August
 * down to a fine art'' - To the astonishment of the Met, the McQueen show produced the busiest opening day its history - 29th July
 * questions for the Fed and Treasury'' - There are a host of more technical issues hanging over the markets beyond what payments the government could make a priority - 29th July
 * queues please, we’re military'' - There seems to be a darker undercurrent to the airline boarding privileges extended to US armed forces personnel - 23rd July
 * unwanted birthday guest'' - Social media undermines the process where a ‘polite’ society can distinguish itself through rules of engagement - 16th July
 * trouble with self-confidence'' - A nation that has become hooked on high self-esteem tends to take dangerous risks and is less willing to listen to advice - 9th July
 * state pension funds could learn from the north'' - Many state pension funds look like slow-moving, herbivorous dinosaurs, surrounded by velociraptors such as hedge funds and sell-side banks - 8th July
 * politics of time'' - With the US election looming in 2012, neither party wants to take big political risks on an austerity plan - 2nd July
 * is now dominant force in US capital markets'' - US government seen as biggest source of outstanding home mortgage and consumer credit loan - 1st July
 * spreading across international banking'' - As rules on regulated lenders tighten, activity and personnel are shifting into the non-bank world at an accelerating rate - 28th June
 * demands tax tolerance of foreign financial groups'' - The ‘Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act’ threatens to impose a withholding tax of up to 30% on sales of US assets by groups that it deems to be ‘non-compliant’ - 13th June
 * East Side storeys - New York’s co-op system seems profoundly un-American and contrary to any ideals of egalitarianism. But it might also be seen as a corollary of the ideal of the ‘free’ melting pot - 11th June
 * the threat from cyberhackers'' - The danger that worries some western governments and financiers is the vision of a malevolent government – or group of well-organised criminals – gaining access to vital systems - 10th June
 * Still living in a dream - Could the financial shock of 2008 – like that of the 1930s – spark a remaking of the old order and end up producing a better society - 4th June
 * Retire? Only in Europe … - America’s elite dinner tables are buzzing with people in their fifties, sixties and even seventies who are creating new businesses and careers - 28th May
 * Lessons from the dark side - Military experts who track mobile phone and internet use around the world today see that there is heavy use even in areas that look ‘dark’ from space - 21st May
 * Rising rates will be sobering for Treasury - Funding long-term obligations with short-term debt makes for a potentially dangerous strategy for the US - 19th May 2011
 * Have skills, can’t travel - What makes the current debate on America’s ‘broken immigration system’ so fascinating is that it reflects, particularly intensely, a bigger global paradox - 14th May
 * Tarp shows that US can break political deadlock - Not many things have emerged from the quagmire of US Congress recently which have produced a truly pleasant surprise – except perhaps the troubled asset relief programme - 13th May
 * Policymakers learn a new and alarming catchphrase - The term ‘financial repression’ is starting to generate a buzz among the US policy elite - 10th May
 * Why this nation fixation? - Why western policy in Afghanistan is so tortured - 7th May
 * Insight: Why ETFs give uneasy sense of déjà vu - The sector, similar to credit markets five years ago, is in the grip of a wave of investor enthusiasm that risks turning a fundamentally sensible innovation bad - 6th May
 * Subtexts of the wedding script - Whenever Tajiks married, they had to decide how to blend Communist and Muslim rituals - 30th April
 * The secret life of the start up - The highest rate of entrepreneurship in the US is found in Montana and Oklahoma, and not in Silicon Valley, as mistaken by most people outside America - 23rd April
 * Will Trump play his cards right? - The glitzy real estate tycoon and television personality shows the all-encompassing power of branding – and personality politics – in American politics today - 16th April
 * Can we believe Geithner’s patter on debt? - Behind the scenes, some large asset managers and banks are already discreetly debating contingency plans not just for a spike in yields, but also a technical default - 15th April
 * ECB move set to spark debate on US tightening - If nothing else, Thursday’s move by the ECB is likely to spark a fresh focus over the differing cultural attitudes towards monetary policy - 8th April
 * An unfair tale of New York - In 1975, Felix Rohatyn spearheaded a group that was charged with ‘saving’ the city from default. His story is both inspiring and alarming - 2nd April
 * Black swans, but no need to flap ... - As Japan shows, extreme, unpredictable risks do exist; and the good news is that there are practical steps that societies can take to become more robust - 26th March
 * Vix volumes rise could drive investor trends - As global investors reel from the latest string of upheavals, trading in the ‘fear gauge’ has exploded as investors try to speculate on volatility or protect themselves - 25th March
 * Manufacturing is all over the place - According to Newsweek magazine, a host of seemingly American items are no longer produced in America, such as Barbie dolls, Hummers and gumball machines - 19th March
 * Japan supply chain risk reverberates globally - As many Japanese factories face temporary closure, the earthquake has left investors facing the complexity of cross-border manufacturing in key product areas - 16th March
 * In the dock, but not in jail - It is true that some bankers have behaved in ways that were profoundly amoral, but whether they have actually broken the law is an issue that is less clear-cut. - 15th March
 * Investors should learn from 1994’s rate spikes - History should have prepared US financiers, after Alan Greenspan 17 years ago unexpectedly doubled short-term interest rates in a year, causing long-term rates to leap - 12th March
 * Return of cov-lites hints at more caution not madness - Are the markets going mad – again? That is the question hanging in the air, after news that so-called ‘cov-lites’ are staging a return - 4th March
 * Midwest farm bonanza comes with a crop of problems - Spiraling food commodity prices are triggering a surge in the price of farmland, leaving estate agents, farmers and their bankers in the US Midwest celebrating - 1st March
 * Time for gun shops to bite the bullet - When the US constitution was written, ‘arms’ were simple rifles. However, these days it is hard to argue that anybody really needs a semi-automatic weapon - 26th February
 * Swiss central bank discord could presage worrying trend - In normal times, investors spend little time contemplating the political status of the Swiss National Bank. Now, however, they should - 25th February
 * Scrap-heap scavengers need ‘recycling’ - Just as newly jobless factory workers have become adept at scouring for ‘waste’ to peddle, America’s unemployed need to reinvent themselves - 18th February
 * Divergence grows between US regions - 12th February
 * The Brazilian nappy challenge - Gillian Tett uncovers how western companies are looking for fresh perspectives in order to sell everything from nappies to nuclear parts in places such as Brazil or India - 12th February
 * Outlook for munis heralds arbitrage opportunities - While investors fret about eurozone divergence, on the other side of the Atlantic another set of divergence problems are also developing - 11th February
 * The trouble with men - US data reveal the other side of the gender debate - 5th February
 * Geopolitics is final piece in risk jigsaw - Conflict and change can erupt in a brutally unexpected manner - 3rd February
 * The tunnel-vision thing - In a world where institutions are becoming increasingly complex, military and financial systems must recognise the dangers of operating with a one-track mind - 29th January
 * A social network - Card-swapping rituals, secret meetings, lavish parties, even a caste system: the peculiarly powerful world of Davos reveals a great deal about human interaction - 29th January
 * Mideast turmoil should spur rethink of old certainties - Crisis demonstrates world is increasingly unpredictable - 28th January
 * Lonely CEOs flee hostile world for self-help group - What is the point of Davos? That is the question many of the 2,500 official delegates to this year’s World Economic Forum might ask as they flock to the Swiss ski resort - 25th January
 * So who’s top of the class now? - The behaviour of Chinese and Japanese students shows how a power shift has been developing in the grassroots of elite US universities - 22nd January
 * Lisbon move points to end of risk-free sovereigns - Another week, another bout of angst about sovereign and municipal risk - 21st January
 * Will the iPad flatten us all? - A decade ago, many had hoped that the internet would create more egalitarianism. But, could it be that it would simply create new forms of inequality? - 15th January
 * Cultural narratives go from the subprime to the ridiculous - The anger about the US housing crisis keeps festering because Americans remain uncertain and divided about how to explain downward mobility - 14th January
 * New ways to control hot money bubbles - Seoul is looking at some unconventional approaches to calming overheating markets - 14th January
 * From the subprime to the ridiculous - Americans are uncertain about how to explain downward mobility - 8th January



Articles: 2010

 * property loans pose new threat'' - The next shock to emerge could well hit financial markets as interest rates begin to rise - 31st December
 * not to fall foul of the model makers'' - Financial players must learn to stop their idolatry of models - 24th December
 * needed to jolt Americans into tackling debt'' - Why has Britain managed to boldly go into fiscal territory which the US has hitherto ducked? That is the $800bn question hanging in the air - 22nd December
 * cheques in cyberspace'' - Money has spun off into something that is hard to understand - 18th December
 * agencies in a bind as pressures mount'' - Their ratings might be flawed, but nobody can afford to ignore them - 17th December
 * on Barbie, let’s hunt fossils'' - Gillian Tett discovers that the cultural icon is no longer simpering in the jacuzzi, nor waiting passively for a prince. She is now a musketeer who battles sword-wielding baddies and prejudiced men - 10th December
 * of the rising sushi'' - Eating raw fish has become a symbol of modernity and sophistication in America; conversely, squealing ‘yuck’ to cold tuna is profoundly uncool - 4th December
 * in a $3,300bn surprise from the Fed'' - It is easy to see why the US Federal Reserve didn’t want to publish details of the liquidity measures and loans it extended during the financial crisis - 2nd December
 * conviction and other failings'' - Politicians are increasingly expected to act like preachers – in possession of great, confident truths they wish to impart to everyone else - 27th November
 * spirits? Alive and hacking'' - Few of us know how the internet works. Even fewer can predict its threats - 20th November
 * spirits? Alive and hacking'' - Few of us know how the internet works. Even fewer can predict its threats - 20th November
 * map that opens up shadow banking'' - NY Fed poster depicting how money goes round the modern world is a reminder of how clueless most investors, regulators and rating agencies were before 2007 about finance - 18th November
 * economists are lost in the jungle'' - In the past couple of years, the reputation of economics has suffered badly, as people ask why this well-paid priesthood failed to predict the financial crunch - 13th November
 * has shown grit but must find a magic formula'' - Pity the Irish. Dublin has repeatedly unveiled commendably bold measures to fight financial crisis, but instead of being rewarded by the markets it has been quite the opposite - 12th November
 * the key to the T-suite'' - Gillian Tett is struck by the diligence with which many US offices and institutions lock their toilets and says it speaks volumes about the degree of trust in parts of American life - 6th November
 * market gridlock must be swiftly resolved'' - Given political stalemate, progress is unlikely - 5th November
 * the magic word is ...'' - Innovation can be a powerful totem pole but it is not a magic wand. The spirit of Google alone cannot ‘reboot’ America overnight - 30th October
 * plenty to play for on the Dodd-Frank bill'' - The Republicans could throw sand into the wheels of financial reform in America - 28th October
 * the yellow brick road'' - Investors’ trust in gold is sky-high – precisely because faith in central banks is now so low - 24th October
 * limits could help to avert ‘flash crash’ havoc'' - Ever since the so-called ‘flash crash’, policymakers and investors have fretted about equity markets but could the event point to other problems? - 21st October
 * donate now. Indirectly'' - The amount of money swirling around the US midterm elections campaign is truly fascinating - 16th October
 * credit crunched'' - If moviegoers had paid more attention to high finance, those bankers might not have gone so mad. New movies on the topic have come five years too late - 9th October
 * Anthropologist in America'' - When the rich hold lavish parties these days, they tend to do so behind closed doors - 2nd October
 * Insight: Transatlantic differences split debate on banks'' - The question of whether the modern world has a sensible scheme for handling bank collapses is absolutely crucial for the future - 2nd October
 * needs a backstop to avoid future crises'' - The core vulnerability that was exposed during the Lehman shock has still not gone away - 23rd September
 * can be done to slow high-frequency trading?'' - Would it be possible to impose a speed limit on equity trading? This question is being addressed by regulators and policymakers - 10th September
 * tale about exit strategies from 1930s Japan'' - Stimulus has been necessary but US policymakers and investors might do well to heed the Takahashi tale - 3rd September
 * for radical rethink of derivatives body'' - ISDA will need to reposition itself if it is to regain real clout. It could take a leaf out of Mr Greenspan’s book and admit it made a mistake by assuming self-regulation would always work - 27th August
 * for debate on equity market structure'' - Could it be time to ask investors to pay higher upfront trading fees in order to build a less costly financial system? - 20th August
 * into US investment banking'' - In spite of the 2008 crash, the once-minor Chartered Financial Analyst exams are still viewed globally as a passport to success - 13th August (with Rachel Sanderson)
 * retreat with investor trust'' - The most pernicious issue hanging over the system right now is a loss of confidence when it seems that nobody really understands how the basic mechanics of the equity market work any more - 6th August
 * for true debate on Fannie and Freddie'' - Astonishingly the 2,300 page financial reform bill that President Barack Obama signed this week makes barely any mention of the problem of government-sponsored enterprises - 22nd July
 * Goldman'' - As millions of Americans have writhed in pain from the financial and economic turmoil, there has been a rising sense of anger – and a growing clamour for “justice” to be done - 18th July
 * will save the taxpayer from the bail-out'' - A workable solution to the ‘Too Big To Fail’ conundrum - 15th July
 * players are a worry for eurozone'' - While the sovereign wealth funds of countries such as China loathe the limelight, their potential market power is rising steadily as their coffers swell - 14th July
 * is out, but does the final bell toll for London?'' - For some financial players, the costs of operating in London are finally starting to outweigh those lifestyle issues - 8th July
 * looks to Rogernomics'' - In normal circumstances, western financial officials do not spend much time pondering New Zealand. Right now, however, these are not normal times as far as harassed European and American budget officials are concerned - 8th July
 * woes leave Swiss with a sore head'' - Zurich’s successes – high growth rate, reduced debt – are attracting investors and creating huge pressure for Swiss franc appreciation against the euro - 1st July
 * emerges as companies tackle debt'' - There is likely to be more, not less, pressure on banks in the coming years as Basel reforms bite - 25th June
 * of America’s fiscal mess starting to bite'' - State spending cuts will encourage investors and voters to start paying more attention to the seemingly-abstract Federal fiscal numbers - 18th June
 * on curbing bankers’ appetite for risk'' - What is the best way to pay top bankers? That is a question that has haunted western politicians since the credit crisis started - 16th June
 * antipathy to stress tests is well founded'' - Having just asked tax payers to fork out to save Greece and other eurozone nations, Germany and France are cautious about revealing further banking-system flaws - 11th June
 * vehicle fails to drive away sovereign debt unease'' - It could be some time before investors fully trust eurozone government bonds again, or know how to value them - 9th June
 * to be learnt from Kazakhstan'' - Ever since the film Borat was released, the word ‘Kazakh’ has tended to provoke sneers on western bank trading floors. Right now, however, it merits more respect – at least as far as the issue of financial restructuring is concerned - 4th June
 * in doubt for New York Fed chief with a ‘scarlet letter’'' - Is William Dudley, the doughty president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, going to be pushed out? That is a question that could soon be bubbling in the markets - 3rd June
 * bondholders jittery over haircuts'' - Eurozone leaders should oblige banks to make provisions for sovereign risk, but they are adamantly refusing to discuss the topic - 28th May
 * investors get cold feet on euro bonds'' - 26th May
 * areas in Chinese loans give pause for thought'' - 23rd May
 * in dollar funding markets'' - The cost for European banks of borrowing dollars has gone on rising even after the €750bn eurozone aid package - 18th May
 * treat pain of crisis like a hangover'' - What does Ireland have that Greece does not? Aside, of course, from rain and good beer. That is the question many western governments might do well to ask themselves, particularly in London, Lisbon and Madrid - 11th May
 * ‘Bear Stearns’ moment?'' - Markets face a mental rubicon. As long as there are doubts about the efficacy of government, the risk of contagion will remain - 5th May
 * emotional markets hypothesis and Greek bonds'' - The markets are suffering from something akin to post-traumatic stress disorder - 10th April
 * in coal mine’ heralds bond trouble'' - The inner cogs of the financial system have been distorted by government intervention in ways that are still barely understood - 30th March
 * faces battle to stop trading shift to eurozone'' - On the prompting of Christine Lagarde, the telegenic French finance minister, senior bankers and regulators are finalising plans to launch Europe’s first electronic platform to trade corporate bonds – initially just for French companies, but later for non-French entities too - 26th March
 * and Milan make bankers nervous'' - Two locations rarely mentioned in the same breath are causing derivatives jitters - 19th March
 * distant prospect despite Lehman outrage'' - The dirty secret hanging over the industry is that the type of cross-border games at the investment bank were an extreme version of what has occurred at other companies – and these games are unlikely to disappear - 16th March
 * this the lull before the storm for US mortgages?'' - What exactly is happening in the bowels of the American mortgage market? - 15th March
 * Insight: Common sense eludes ECB'' - Commonsense ideas like penalising the profligate are rare – at least as far as the European Central Bank is concerned - 10th March
 * is pathfinder back from crisis'' - Western central banks mull the same questions that faced the Japanese four years ago: namely, is it possible to remove emergency policies smoothly, after a banking crisis? - 2nd March
 * keeps lid on Greek bond data'' - Many investors would like to know the volume of Greek government bonds in the ECB’s coffers, after being lodged there by European banks - 26th February
 * US battle to pull the props'' - Could the Obama administration’s plans to curb “proprietary trading” produce a nasty jolt for the US Treasuries market? - 19th February
 * race is on for Greece before the ECB exits'' - Some powerful investors are now betting on European debt defaults - 5th February
 * fiscal reform hangs in the balance'' - The question is whether the US is intent on going it alone on the regulatory front – or whether it could be persuaded to co-operate with other governments - 1st February
 * suffers from ‘credibility deficit’'' - The real problem dogging Athens is its ‘credibility deficit’: that few investors believe what the prime minister has to say, either about the economy or the Chinese - 29th January
 * for a new Bretton Woods not so mad'' - Banking bonuses or credit markets may no longer dominate the debate; instead, the next big bogeyman may be exchange rates - 29th January
 * The hindered haircut'' - As Tim Geithner testifies on the AIG rescue, the full sums paid to banks that dealt with the insurer are coming under a harsher glare - 27th January (with Henry Sender and Francesco Guerrera)
 * sense shift in capital flows'' - The need for investment is rising in many emerging markets, to fund infrastructure growth and corporate expansion. The personal and corporate wealth generated in these markets is growing rapidly as well - 22nd January (see also: Building Brics)
 * take on Terminators'' - Six months ago, I used to joke to colleagues that the position of the world’s largest investment banks reminded me of the closing scenes of the film Terminator II - 22nd January
 * unsavoury debt mire'' - After crunching the data, McKinsey estimates that the gross level of British private and public debt is now 449% of GDP – up from 350% at the start of the decade – and the UK has the most debt of any of the big western economies - 18th January
 * Insight: Still bristling over AIG haircut'' - Washington’s decision to pay out on the insurer’s credit derivatives contracts at face value sparked a row that has not died down - 14th January
 * story of the Brics'' - In 2001, Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill coined the acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China. His idea redrew the world financial map - 14th January
 * and the patriotism test'' - Moody’s is considering whether to introduce a “social cohesion” rating into sovereign debt indices - 8th January
 * course to chart'' - After the decade of debt: Although bond markets will remain well supplied, banks may soon need to start looking elsewhere for growth - 4th January



Articles: 2009

 * mechanics'' - Science and finance: As better ways are sought to explain and even predict market behaviour, attention is swinging towards the links that sustain ecosystems - 27th November (with Clive Cookson and Chris Cook)
 * and bank bashing'' - It is difficult to imagine what was going through the brain of Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein when the bank announced a $500m initiative to help small US businesses - 23rd November
 * initiative shows cross-border risk'' - The way that scientists in Reading are trying to measure flood risk has fascinating parallels with a topic now confronting G20 leaders – namely, macroprudential regulation - 10th November
 * of the fortress'' - Banking: As Jamie Dimon plans the expansion of a JPMorgan Chase whose strong balance sheet kept it profitable in the crisis, it will be time to clarify his strategy - 13th October (with Francesco Guerrera)
 * cogs, misfiring machine'' - A business at bay: More than two years since the credit crisis set in, investment managers face growing demands to justify what they buy for clients, the myriad fees they levy – and whether their vast industry serves anyone’s interest but its own - 28th September (with Kate Burgess)
 * Lunch with the FT: David Hare - The playwright talks to Gillian Tett about his latest work ‘The Power of Yes’ and explains why he cannot understand, let alone empathise, with bankers’ motives - 26th September
 * Insight: The ghosts of AIG prosper - It remains tough for regulators to assess whether risks are being handled sensibly, due to a paucity of counterparty data - 24th September
 * Watch Barclays in the cellar - ‘SIV’ has become almost as taboo a term as ‘subprime securitisation’. But Barclays ‘newly established fund’ called Protium Finance excites a twinge of déjà vu - 17th September
 * Market Insight: Banks can learn from football - I don’t know whether Lloyd Blankfein is a fan of English football. Right now, however, the head of Goldman Sachs might do well to peek at Chelsea football club - 10th September
 * A matter of retribution'' - How many financiers do you think ended up in jail after America’s Savings and Loans scandals? The answer can be found in a fascinating, old report from the US Department of Justice - 4th September
 * Could ‘Tobin tax’ reshape financial sector DNA? - Policymakers, politicians, investors and bankers must be willing to keep remaking policy as the world evolves - 27th August
 * Insight: Eliminate financial double-think - Regulators must start thinking more about power structures, vested interests and social silence - 20th August
 * Insight: Idea of ‘living wills’ is likely to die quiet death - Some western regulators are tossing the idea about whether lessons learnt from preparing for death could prove useful for the modern banking world - 13th August
 * Global insight: New world of supply chains - Securitised mortgages and manufacturing supply chains appear to have little in common. But in one respect they are alike: their embrace of globalisation - 12th August
 * The liquidity pipes remain clogged - Banks seem unwilling to use spare liquidity to engage in activity that regulators or shareholders might deem risky - 6th August
 * How Markit turned from a camera into an engine - When Lance Uggla, an entrepreneurial bond trader, created Markit back in 2001, he could have had little inkling that it would one day enter the US political spotlight - 16th July
 * Insight: US property market central to economy - A couple of weeks ago I visited West Virginia, USA, where some friends of mine run a small real estate business. As we sat in their yard on a balmy summer evening, I heard how realtors in this pretty, small town had been devastated by the housing crash - 9th July
 * Global Insight: Germans open can of worms - What are the Germans trying to hide? That is a question which has been furtively muttered in several European capitals, as the implications of a recent tussle about bank reform have sunk in - 8th July
 * restraint'' - With the securitisation market no longer driving western economies, banks and governments are casting around for lower-tech ways to fill the financing gap - 7th July (with Aline Van Duyn)
 * Insight: The human factor - The other day, a senior figure in the US government showed me some pieces of old paper he has taken to keeping in his pocket. These scraps, he solemnly explained, were used for jotting down words or numbers which he needed to remember or communicate to other officials – such as sensitive data about banks or the budget - 2nd July
 * Insight: SEC gets tough on Wall St tribalism - In recent years, Henry Hu, a finance professor of Texas University, has often been a thorn in the side of the banking world. In his academic research, Hu has repeatedly highlighted the systemic risks created by credit derivatives and other complex instruments - 25th June
 * Insight: When it comes to global banks, size matters - Do the big global banks need to be cut down to size? That question has been hovering, half-stated, over the financial system ever since Bear Stearns blew up - 18th June
 * Ringmaster of British finance rediscovers its muscles - Do you think that investors holding subordinated notes issued by banks should engage in a debt for equity swap? For some of Britain’s largest insurance groups, it has just become a pressing issue - 11th June
 * the march'' - Financial markets: Turning turmoil to their advantage, large asset managers are challenging the privileged and lucrative position that banks gained during the boom - 9th June (with Aline van Duyn)
 * Insight: Crowded debt sales risks causing ‘auction fatigue’ - A few decades ago, when global financial markets rocked to a more gentlemanly tune, many western governments took an informal break from the business of selling their bonds during the summer - 4th June
 * Leverage creeps back on to the radar - Investors and policymakers have been scouring the financial landscape looking for green shoots - 1st June
 * Recovery not as easy as U, V, W - Are you expecting a “V” shaped recovery this summer? Or do you anticipate a scenario more like a “U” or a “W”? That is the question I have been asked repeatedly this month, as the debate about “green shoots” roars on - 28th May
 * battle commence'' - Derivatives: As the US administration tackles what it sees as a main cause of the crisis, an arcane and unruly industry is seeking to defend its lucrative turf - 20th May (with Aline van Duyn)
 * lesson for bankers from the birds and the bees'' - The dynamics of the modern financial network make it comparable to other complex networks, such as rainforests - 2nd May
 * Global Insight: When boring becomes a virtue - A host of threats – such as the state of Swiss franc loans in eastern Europe – have receded in recent weeks. The real surprise has been the relative absence of stomach-churning shocks - 23rd April 2009
 * Finger of blame points to shadow banking’s implosion - The financial system needs to find a way to restart securitisation or we face a world where credit will remain a highly rationed commodity - 23rd April 2009
 * Chocolate coins are now deemed safer than gilts - In recent months the cost of insuring against a default on UK gilts has surged as investors have fretted about the ever-spiralling levels of British debt - 22nd April 2009
 * standard debate roars on''- in uncertain times, all that glisters is a gold standard - 9th April
 * chance for bankers to refocus their talents'' - Most policymakers remain keener to bash former and potential bankers than to consider how to use their talents in the most economically rational way - 7th April
 * A task fit for Herculean policymakers - One dirty secret that hangs over the G20 meeting is that there is still precious little global consensus about how to tackle the toxic woes - 1st April 2009
 * Banking success amid the baked beans - Three years ago, Migros bank – the financial arm of the doughty Swiss supermarket chain – seemed stubbornly unfashionable - 30th March 2009
 * Insight: Elusive search for harmony - Hopes for a super-regulator may be far fetched, but investors need more transparency - 26th March 2009
 * Treasury hopes actions speak louder than words - When is a toxic asset not really “toxic”? When it is in the hands of the Wall Street and Washington spin machine, it might seem - 23rd March 2009
 * Insight: Where are the Gordon Gekkos? - Where is Gordon Gekko when you really need him? That is a question many financiers might ask right now. In recent days, politicians on both sides of the Atlantic have railed against the antics of “greedy” speculators – and vowed to clamp down on unbridled risk-taking - 19th March 2009
 * Hope evaporates as confusion descends - A decade ago, senior US officials such as Tim Geithner and Lawrence Summers often travelled to Tokyo and berated the Japanese for their endless procrastination in resolving their banking woes - 17th March 2009
 * Good idea that turned bad - What is most shocking is that no one in AIG – or in the ratings or regulatory world – appears to have spotted those risks before - 16th March 2009
 * Insight: US is ready for Swedish lesson on banks - Washington has summoned the head of Sweden’s debt office, presumably to glean tips on what it should do next - 12th March 2009
 * through destructive creation'' - The Future of Capitalism: Greed, fraud, cheap money, managerial failure and lax oversight all played a part in bringing about the crisis – but at its heart was the complexity and opacity of modern finance - 10th March 2009
 * Insight: The financial world is stumbling blindly - This month, Sergei Polonsky, one of Russia’s largest and most indebted property developers, is trying to prevent powerful western banks from calling in their loans - 5th March 2009
 * Insight: Time to expose those CDOs - An open fire sale of collateralised debt obligations could be the least bad of some terrible options - 26th February 2009
 * Policymakers aim to raise oversight - A decade ago, western regulators used to fret about banks that were deemed to be “too big to fail” – in the sense of being so elephantine that they would shake the entire system if they collapsed - 23rd February 2009
 * over Lehman dinner'' - No prizes for guessing what is worrying the delegates due to arrive in Davos (albeit probably not too visibly in their corporate jets) – some sessions were hugely oversubscribed - 27th January



Articles: 2008

 * Geithner gets the job done - Tim Geithner is not somebody who spends hours theorising about what could or should have been done according to any policy textbook; his focus is always on results, and to get them he will collect ideas, advice and opinions from wherever he can - 24th November 2008
 * Investors left dazed by violence of recent swings - A couple of years ago – or before banks started to go bust – economists sometimes liked to talk about a phenomenon they christened the “Great Moderation” - 27th October 2008
 * Insight: Volatility returns with a vengeance - Models are showing that the risk attached to almost any transaction has exploded upwards - 27th October 2008
 * Banks need time and luck as well as funds - Tokyo’s banking woes shows that while recapitalisation is often a necessary condition for resolving a banking crisis, it is not sufficient to heal the economic pain - 17th October 2008
 * Applause but slowdown and debt fears loom - As markets digested Tuesday’s news that the US plans to join Europe in making capital injections into troubled banks, western governments got a welcome round of applause. But the mood among most policymakers remains far from euphoric - 14th October 2008
 * Policymakers save world in the final reel - If – or when – Hollywood produces the film Apocalypse Averted: the 2008 credit turmoil, last weekend’s meeting of G7 ministers in Washington could offer plenty of drama - 13th October 2008
 * Markets throw one tantrum after another - For most of the past year, senior bankers have struggled to avert a collapse of faith in modern finance. Tragically, as this month’s events show, they have largely lost this fight - 10th October 2008
 * startling shift from bumbling to sensible policy'' - This package suggests British mandarins have finally learnt to draw lessons from the past, notably from the 1990s crises in Japan and Sweden - 9th October 2008
 * sown in murky finance'' - Twenty-first century bankers have been acting like a BlackBerry-toting priestly class that assumed that only people who spoke the equivalent of advanced financial Latin should be allowed to attend mass - 2nd October 2008
 * US woes are a taste of honey for Japan - The US repeated Japan’s mistakes on a bigger scale. It is Japanese groups that are snapping up distressed names such as Lehmans - 23rd September 2008
 * The era of leverage is over - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have packed a powerful historical punch, since their move to become holding companies essentially spells the end of the old broker-dealer business model, with its bold, buccaneering approach to life - 22nd September 2008
 * Calm must prevail in war of psychology - What the financial world needs is to heed the advice dished out in the second world war: just stay calm (preferably with a nice cup of tea). But the events of last week have left patience and sanity in short supply - 21st September 2008
 * RTC repeat may not end the drama - The current Washington debate on an RTC rerun suggests that policymakers have recognised the key problem behind this week’s crisis: that investors simply do not believe western banks have enough capital to cope with credit losses - 19th September 2008
 * Gridlock and panic follow loss of compass - Recent events have left investors and financial institutions so utterly disorientated, that there is widespread confusion about what anything might now be worth. The financial world, in a sense, has lost its compass - 18th September 2008
 * The boring is biting with a vengeance - One painful lesson for investors is that it is not just the smartest guy in the room who can blow up the system. The dull, plodding nerds can be lethal too - 17th September 2008
 * Making the abstract more human - A few years ago, Ron den Braber, an outspoken Dutch maths geek, was working in the risk department at the Royal Bank of Scotland when he became alarmed about the models being used to price collateralised debt obligations - 3rd July 2008
 * the Japanese trap'' - Banks risk becoming addicted to the Fed and ECB’s emergency measures - 12th June 2008
 * champagne flows no more'' - Bankers are dreaming up new forms of securitisation, but for now the salad days are over - 5th June 2008
 * new wave of grime lurks'' - Banks could soon be hit by a wave of new problems in the leveraged loan market - 22nd May 2008
 * tackling risk it’s good to talk'' - Most bankers would sooner die rather than discuss their doubtful deals with other groups - 15th May 2008
 * race against time'' - Sentiment must stabilise and the system recapitalised before fresh signs of credit turmoil emerge - 8th May 2008
 * A prices are out of sync'' - Why have the prices of triple A mortgage-linked securities slumped so dramatically this year? That question has recently caused anguished debate in the banking world - 1st May 2008
 * Commodity prices fall? Surely not - Where do the biggest counterparty risks currently lie in the financial system? If you were to ask a clutch of Wall Street bankers that question right now, many might point to the credit derivatives world – or perhaps the leverage finance sphere - 24th April 2008
 * Misplaced bets on the carry trade - Earlier this week, I asked a senior executive of one of the world’s most troubled investment banks when he had first grasped the meaning of the phrase “super-senior.” Sheepishly, he admitted that the moment was last August - 17th April 2008
 * Time for a hard look at banking oversight - This spring, a bout of witch-hunting has broken out on Wall Street. After the implosion of Bear Stearns, politicians, investors, regulators and lawyers having been eagerly casting around for someone to blame (if not send to jail) - 27th March 2008
 * The sacrificial lamb of Wall Street - Back in the days when I was a student of social anthropology, I used to spend time worrying about ritual sacrifice. For a common feature of many cultures is that they mark periods of stress with elaborate ceremonies accompanied by sacrifice – be it a tethered goat, hobbled chicken or something more gruesome - 19th March 2008
 * Election drapes ‘bail-out’ in a politically incorrect shade - When is a bail-out not quite a bail-out? When it occurs in a US election year, it might seem. Or that, at least, is the cynical thinking floating around some well-informed market minds - 13th March 2008
 * Credit experience left wanting at the top - Can you teach a geek to schmooze? Or is it easier to make a charming schmoozer into a geek? That is a question I have been mulling in recent weeks, with a growing sense of immediacy following the recent, surprise, revaluations at Credit Suisse - 21st February 2008
 * Is the monoline bail-out sensible? - As news of a possible bail-out of the monoline industry trickled out on Wednesday night, one senior investment banker in Davos sent an urgent message to his junior staff: crunch the numbers to work out whether this makes financial sense for the banks – or not. - 24th January 2008
 * Increasing pressure on the biggest banks - A couple of weeks ago, I chatted with the treasury team at one of the world’s largest investment banks. They were preparing for a frenetic time selling debt in late January and early February. - 10th January 2008



Links:

 * Start the Week - Financial journalist Gillian Tett explains how she predicted the economic downtown from her background in social anthropology BBC R4, 27th April 2009
 * Journalist of the year Gillian Tett: ‘Financial crisis was once in a century opportunity’ - Owen Amos, Press Gazette, 2nd April 2009
 * On the money - The banking world ignored Gillian Tett when she predicted the credit crisis two years ago. Laura Barton hears how her training in social anthropology alerted her to the danger - The Guardian, 31st October 2008
 * Wikipedia bio