If you’re wondering if there’ll be an end to the bad news confronting the world, wonder no longer – for the bankers still rule the world.
Yes, more stringent regulations mean Hong Kong escaped the worst of the 2008-09 crisis, but don’t forget there were still local investors who were misled into buying financial products that lost their life savings. Compensation may have been arranged and the rules may have been updated, but having received a simple letter from one bank asking me to declare myself an “experienced investor” by simply signing and returning that piece of paper, it’s clear that nothing’s really changed for the better.
But that’s not all, ‘cos the bankers who were responsible for the crisis in the first place are still in charge – and in line for hefty bonuses.
If we want the world’s financial system reformed to improve its stability, shouldn’t we look for fresh ideas from people untainted by the failed system’s ideology and practices?
Apparently not. The new head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi and the new Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, were respectively a partner and international adviser of Goldman Sachs – yes, the same firm that arranged the credit default swaps used by Greece to hide its debts. That’s right, the firm that had to sell its stake in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China in order to pay back some of the US$10 billion given it by the US Treasury – then headed by another Goldman alumni, Henry Paulson, under the Troubled Asset Recovery Program (Tarp) set up in the wake of the 2008-09 crisis. The firm that lost 98% of Gaddafi’s US$1.3 billion worth of funds. The firm that made a mistake in its warrant prospectus that cost Hong Kong investors but which wouldn’t pay up.
And guess what? Even as Goldman itself issued a highly pessimistic report on the Eurozone’s prospects, it and other investment banks stand to make huge amounts in fees as the European Financial Stability Fund issues billions of Euros worth of bonds in its bid to rescue member states.
The economic outlook may augur ill for most of us; for those who created the crisis though, it’ll be another nice payday.

