Jon Corzine and MF Global

November 26th, 2012 by Kara in Case Studies

The House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee released its report on the MF Global bankruptcy on November 15, 2012. The report was scathing of Corzine saying he created an “authoritarian atmosphere”, “insulated trading activity from review process”, and was responsible for “dereliction of duty…to maintain the systems and controls necessary to protect customer funds.” It seems every few months the restoration of confidence in the financial markets is set back by another enormous ethical failure. In this case, not only does MF Global, a major investment firm, collapse and declare bankruptcy, ...

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Dimon and the Whale

November 12th, 2012 by Kara in Case Studies

JP Morgan was one of the few bulge bracket banks to weather the storm of the 2008 financial crisis.  The bank seemed a relatively trustworthy player within the financial services industry. However, the recent $5.8 billion hedging loss, initially estimated at $2 billion by JP Morgan, may cast a measure of doubt on the bank’s institutional character.  THE PLAYERS Bruno Iksil (The London Whale).  Bruno Iksil, a trader for JP Morgan’s London office, earned the nickname, the London Whale, for his predisposition to take on big, risky trades.  This process is known as hedging, ...

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