The Big Read
Cash is king when bankers race to get ahead
The global economy and emerging-market nations come across as victims of the excesses of Wall Street and London
Movies about the global financial crisis of 2008 — think The Big Short, or Too Big to Fail — largely blame the greed of US bankers and their peers in the City of London. The global economy and emerging-market nations such as South Africa come across as victims of the excesses of Wall Street and London. But what has become evident from the Competition Commission probe that named traders at three of South Africa's leading banks - Barclays Africa/Absa, Investec and Standard - is that perhaps the blame needs to be spread more widely. The commission said altogether 18 banks were involved in colluding to manipulate slight movements in the dollar/rand exchange rate. Given the globalisation of financial markets, it was perhaps inevitable that the US investment banking culture exemplified by failed institutions such as Lehman Brothers would spread.Indeed, the parent company of Barclays Africa, Barclays plc, was fined a record amount by UK authorities in 2012 for trying to manipulate interban...
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