James Moore: After US attack on City, maybe our regulators should target Wall Street
The "world's best bank" (Standard Chartered) has succumbed to the same hubris that has infected the rest of the industry like a bad case of winter vomiting. The sort of thing that allowed Barclays traders to try fixing Libor interest rates: Look, our investment bank is a driver of economic growth. Or allowed HSBC to deal with Mexican drug lords: If it hits profit targets who cares about compliance?
Or let JPMorgan give its traders a licence to lose billions, while throwing pots of lobbying money at derailing regulatory reform. Or permitted a Goldman Sachs trader to construct a portfolio of derivatives on the advice of a hedge fund that was betting against them.
Of course, the latter two are American banks, and Barclays has been dominated by Americans for a long time. As for the bonus culture that was so instrumental in the genesis of so many of these scandals? You've guessed it: Made in America.
In reality, these are all transatlantic scandals which require transatlantic solutions. But Mr Geithner and friends would much rather puff out their chests and slap London around.
While the US has been rather good at jailing those involved in white-collar crime (much better than we have), there haven't many bankers in orange jumpsuits making perp walks from Wall Street to Rikers Island. Should we now raise the question about who exactly would benefit the most from London's financial centre being brought down a peg or two? This shouldn't read like an exoneration of Standard Chartered or what it was up to. But it's naive to think Wall Street has all of a sudden become an example of the way things should be done.
Come to think of it, someone might like to ask what's going on in its dark corners while Britain's American critics are joining hands to sing "London's burning"? Perhaps Martin Wheatley and his new Financial Conduct Authority might like to make a name for themselves by taking a look.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/james-moore-after-us-attack-on-city-maybe-our-regulators-should-target-wall-street-8015734.html
Sic transit special relationship.
