Cars Before Underwear

Cars Before Underwear

Today, The Atlantic reminded me that Alan Greenspan, the renowned economist and former Fed chair, has been said to follow the Men’s Underwear Index (MUI) as an indicator of economic turning points. Many men consider new underwear a nicety, so when they feel economic...
Circles of Risk

Circles of Risk

As the great philosopher Post Malone states: Run away, but we’re running in circles Run away, run away —Circles (2019) It seems like a magic trick. A bank issues loans to consumers and businesses, and each of these loans has an expected credit loss. The bank is...
Bank Regulation Is Just Right!

Bank Regulation Is Just Right!

Said no one ever. Regardless of where you live or which team you are on, bank or regulator, you are probably never completely satisfied with global bank regulation. Granted, the regulation was not made to make anybody happy, but to curb systemic risk, especially in...
A Rare Glimpse of Systemic Risk

A Rare Glimpse of Systemic Risk

A camera catches a column of hand-written numbers as Sir David Attenborough narrates: Here, in the unforgiving embrace of the high peaks, a ghost of finance moves, the systemic risk, a creature so rightfully vilified its very existence seems a threat to our way of...
Same Buffer, Different Take

Same Buffer, Different Take

We recently mentioned that the US regulators have asked the large banks to comment on a proposal to recalibrate—and most likely lower—what is called the supplementary leverage ratio. The supplementary leverage ratio determines the extra capital buffer large banks have...
The Banks Were Good Again

The Banks Were Good Again

At the end of June, the Federal Reserve released the results of the 2025 Dodd Frank Act Stress Test (DFAST). This is the annual test where banks send their balance sheets to the Fed which then works their scenarios and models to predict how the banks will fare through...