William Webster

In a regime of “too big to fail” the taxpayer bailed out banks. Whilst expedient at the time this led to the perception that the larger a bank was the safer it would be. Many large depositors pared back their … Continue reading →

There’s a lot of talk that the UK may lose its AAA debt rating. When this happened in the US government bond yields fell. So does it really matter? On the face of it no. In a world of increasing … Continue reading →

This isn’t going to be popular with NEDs. It’s something I’ve mentioned and it meets stiff resistance. The governance of banks and societies is heavily reliant on management information. This is normally produced monthly for the board meeting. The FSA … Continue reading →

In 2012 you will see more pressure being brought to bear on explaining how you measure and price the risk in treasury and how that cost is apportioned to the business. It’s part of a regulatory push that’s aimed at … Continue reading →

Something to consider – is the FSA and the Bank of England run by a bright and talented group of people who have amazing foresight? Or are they subject to the same limitations as the rest of us, where collectively … Continue reading →

You don’t have to be Greek to understand that something very wrong has happened. Public and private sector over leverage has led to the certainty that it cannot continue in its current form. A problem that has been brought to … Continue reading →

Yesterday I was taking part in a webinar on liquidity stress testing. I had a check list of nine points they are here: 1. Severe yet plausible: Can you justify the stresses being used? What are the core scenarios? How … Continue reading →

Here’s a dilemma for a small bank. You have £20m of “spare” liquidity. What do you do with it? a. Deposit it all with Barclays? b. Deposit it equally with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS? c. Deposit it in different … Continue reading →

The regulator is encouraging firms to become more proactive at looking at forward looking risk. Is that a good thing? It is not a panacea and its role should be put into context. Using your projections it to see what … Continue reading →

In PS 9/16 and BIPRU 12 the FSA defined what a firm could count towards its liquidity buffer. This was mainly high quality government debt. For firms with Sterling balance sheets it’s meant a Reserve Account, T-bills and Gilts. At … Continue reading →