Bank of England to boost intelligence team to spot market threats - report
[WTF? Pearly, was someone talking to Bush? Wait as sec, they want whistle blowers. We fire them. Mish]
Monday, January 17, 2005 7:03:03 AM
afxpress.com
LONDON (AFX) - The Bank of England is strengthening its intelligence on financial markets by recruiting more staff to encourage whistle-blowers and pick up City gossip, in order to prevent another Barings-style collapse, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper did not name its source, but said the move is part of a "root and branch" review of the Bank ordered by governor Mervyn King as he looks to stamp his mark on the institution by ridding it of the last vestiges of its gentlemen's club image and turning it into a premier professional monetary authority
[Let me get this straight. You get rid of a gentlemen's club image and become a premier professional authority by listening to city gossip? Gee, who woulda thought? Mish]
The Bank's markets team has been given a new role in uncovering emerging threats to the financial system, the newspaper added. The Bank is redeploying a unit from the team's trading division to meet financial institutions and to gather information about other institutions and practices that could undermine the financial system as a whole. It is a reflection of concern that nine years after the collapse of Barings Bank caused market turmoil, the Bank's early-warning systems need strengthening
King, who replaced Sir Edward, now Lord, George in July 2003, believes that while "we don't want to duplicate what the Financial Services Authority is doing", the Bank has an advantage over the FSA in collecting information on potential systemic threats because it is not the industry regulator.
[We do not want to duplicate other efforts, we want to listen to city gossip. Makes sense to me. Mish]
Senior Bank employees think it will be in financial institutions' own interests to inform them of markets, trades and other practices in the City with the potential to blow up into serious financial crises, the newspaper said. In the past year, the Bank has identified the rapid growth of hedge funds and similarly complex derivatives as a potential threat to stability.
[How much was spent determining that hard to come by conclusion. Was it a result of gossip gathering or brute fore intelligence? Mish] |
