financial markets

Introduction We recently wrote that the enormous losses being handed to taxpayers by Western central banks were in effect the second part of the same bill for the Global Financial…

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has gone from hero-to-zero in 48 hours. From established bankers to start-ups in the tech, fintech, and biotech industries and to Napa Valley’s premium wineries on…

As voices are heard everyday to “regulate” and “discipline” the finance industry, Lawrence H. White, Professor at George Mason University, Virginia and top scholar in money and banking, bring to our attention this very relevant quote from William Graham Sumner (1840-1910), Yale Professor, historian and sociologist.

Constant attacks on tax havens and hedge funds by some politicians and statesmen is at least inappropriate. As a matter of fact, it is thanks to “speculators” that we have learnt about the pitiful state of public finance in several states (for example in Greece). On the other hand, international financial markets are the unique source of liquidities for troubled States. This is the point of view of Nicolas Lecaussin, Director of Development at IREF.

The renewed interest in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is premature. They are currently the mainstays of the U.S. housing market–more important now than they were before being placed in a government conservatorship in September 2008. Many observers do not believe the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) can survive the immense losses they will cause taxpayers, but this is far from true.