Who said so? The West said so. The bankers in New York
and London said so. So we just
follow, blindly, and things will be just fine. Today’s frontpage news,
‘SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has censured 20 banks in Singapore, after completing a year-long review of their rate-setting processes.
Singapore's central bank also wants to introduce a new regulatory framework to criminalise any future rate fixing activity.
Three local banks and 17 foreign banks have been censured by the MAS.
The local banks are OCBC, DBS and UOB.
The foreign banks are ING, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Barclays, Credit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, ANZ, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Macquarie, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, HSBC and Commerzbank.
133 traders from these banks tried to manipulate the Singapore Interbank Offered Rates (SIBOR), the SWAP offered rates and foreign exchange spot benchmarks….’
The above is quoted from Channel News Asia online.
When the last financial crisis hit, the world’s financial institutions and framework were threatened to go down and collapse. Thanks to all the great recommendations for deregulations to allow the bankers to do as they pleased. And no man of any importance was found guilty or put behind bars for the crisis. The govts of the West could not find anyone doing anything wrong. How could they when the govts approved of what they were doing? Everything was legal and all approved by the govts. Oh, just one and because he was mad. It was written in his name, Madoff. So this Madoff was the only one found mad enough to be caught.
And did they know what caused the financial crisis? Yes. And did they do anything to prevent it? No? The whole damn system of frauds continues to run merrily in ever bigger scale and churning more paper profits.
So now what, 20 banks and 133 traders were caught here! Would any big fish going to answer or be put behind bars? No. I don’t think they can find anyone with a name ‘mad’ to nail. And ‘There was no evidence of “successful manipulation”.’ So most of them will get away scot free ya? Maybe a few small guys will be made an example of. The rest will get a tap on the wrist. Be good, be nice. Go home now.
And a big pleasant surprise, MAS is going to introduce new regulations and make some of these fraudulent practices criminal. Are we out of our mind? Deregulation is the right thing and the right way to go. More regulations are going against the recommendations from the Mecca of world finance.
Maybe we have come to our senses, that all that glitters from the West is not really gold. We need to find our own footings and do what is right from what we know best. It is time to stop blindly following the mad and irresponsible West in their destruction of the financial system. It is time to take stock, do the right thing, get rid of all the snake oils and dangerous products being sold here. Return the banking and finance system to basics, to the real business of banking and finance and not gambling and horse racing.
A few regulations are not going to help. It is the whole system designed by the West and the toxic products that need to be thrown out of the window. It is time to stop hiring the crooks from Wall Street and Fleet Street. It is time to send them home. It is time to do the right thing to protect our banking and financial system, to slow down, to scale down the wild wild west, free wheeling nonsense. As a financial centre, it is time to reset the standard and adapt only the safe practices, and be prepared to lower the expectations of the cowboy robber bankers. Only then can our system be shielded from the wild swings and frauds of the western system. We need to find our own way. The present one is flawed and treacherous.
There is an urgent need for a think tank group to examine what were wrongs and fraudulent practices and to make amends quickly.
It is time to take stock, do the right thing, get rid of all the snake oils and dangerous products being sold here. Return the banking and finance system to basics, to the real business of banking and finance and not gambling and horse racing.
ReplyDeleteHi RB, you are smashing the rice bowl of FIRE workers into pieces. If you have your ways, these bankers will have to foreclose their condos and start taking MRT.
More than half will be retrenched.
RE: There is an urgent need for a think tank group to examine what were wrongs and fraudulent practices and to make amends quickly.
ReplyDeletePeople think in this country??? Thinking is not fashionable or encouraged any more. Just read the ''right'' thing.
MAS benefitted greatly from this scandal.19 out of the 20 banks involved are asked to place S$8.5 billion to S$12 billion with MAS for a year at zero interest. What about consumers who took loans from these banks at cooked rates? Did MAS make any eforts to compensate these consumers and compensate them for their loss?
ReplyDeleteAny regulation will make the rich richer and the rest poorer.
ReplyDeleteVeritas,
ReplyDeleteIt is good that these people lose their jobs. Banks have evolved from the old days of capital allocation and facilitators into the present day predatory and parasitic entities. They are sucking up too much resources from the productive society.
FIRE industry is but an illusion, in the end a strong country will need either natural resources, Intellectal inovation or strong manufacturing base. Unless we want to end up like Philippines, who managed to successfully export their labour.
The West told the silly Asian countries, deregulate and let us cook your balls, and the Asian countries did just as told.
ReplyDeleteNow the banks are selling all kinds of toxic notes. The stock exchanges allowing big hedge funds to use their computers to cheat the innocent investors.
And the irresponsible exchanges earned their 2c while the investors lost their savings. And the hedge funds scooped up everything on the table.
"There is an urgent need for a think tank group to examine what were wrongs and fraudulent practices and to make amends quickly."
ReplyDeleteYou can't change anything until you change the political ideology.
To change the political ideology, we must change the government.
A leopard cannot change his spots.
Doesn't matter deregulate or don't deregulate lah.
ReplyDeletePAP govt can try both lah and see which one will work better.
Of course what is better for PAP govt is not necessary same for Sinkies lah, especially those ordinary Sinkies.
In fact PAP govt, unlike other govts, can try anything they want without having to worry about being voted out in the next election.
All PAP need to do is to see that WP remain the best and strongest opposition. If not, maybe they need to worry.
When the robbers advised to deregulate, the stupid govts said good idea.
ReplyDeleteThe finance industry is already THE MOST REGULATED industry in the world. And they still fail to deliver "honesty" and "integrity" because the present regulations actually foster "bad behavior" by banks, and their masters: The Central Bankers.
ReplyDeleteTwo things need to happen to allow the "right form" of regulation to evolve and be implemented:
1. Central banks need to go. These are the fuckers at the root cause of most financial meltdowns. Singapore and HK never used to have central banks. Matters of currency were handled by Treasury, regulation was strict, but workable and the currency gained in purchasing power over the years.
2. The best regulation is self regulation -- keep the government OUT, or at best just a light touch, only stepping in when there is malfeasance or gross impropriety, and come in and hit hard -- i.e. no such thing as "too big to fail, too connected for jail". Balls to that: institutions should be allowed to FAIL, and if guilty, those executives MUST go to jail -- do not pass 'Go' and collect bonuses, forfeit their property to PAY BACK as much as possible the people they cold-bloodily CHEATED.
If you really want to witch hunt, all the central bankers should be thrown in jail immediately.
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ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing such information. Horse racing is a popular game from ancient time. People who are interested in horse racing have knowledge of its history, when it is started, where it was played first etc. Singapore Turf Club