Multi-tasking during the Fire

"When firefighters are still struggling to extinguish the blaze, talking about fire prevention seems premature. The worst financial crisis since the Depression isn't over, yet it's time to put the best brains to work at restructuring the financial regulatory structure so we don't go through this again."
-- David Wessel, Wall Street Journal, 12 March 2009

At GlobalRiskJobs, we couldn't agree more. Yet, this crisis has legs, and I don't think anybody is really ready to declare that the end of it is near. But, it does seem as if the stirrings have regulatory discussion have begun in earnest this week. When government officials like Bernanke, and business commentators like Wessel begin to turn their attention to regulatory architecture, it is a good thing for the market for risk and compliance professionals. It means that what you have known was coming for the past year or more is beginning to materialize. For a long time, it appeared that the discussion would not begin to take place until the system was stabilized. Yet, the longer the pain goes on, the more apparent it is that discussions of real change on the regulatory front need to occur now. For awhile, things were held up by the natural turbulence of a massive government change-over. As the Obama administration settles in and appointments have been made, the executors have dug-in and begun to take steps. Be prepared for the pace to pick up.

The links:

• Bloomberg's Jonathan Weil writes that Moody's admission of its shortcomings in independence and integrity in federal court last week will prove extremely damaging to the Agency's public reputation.
• Bernie Madoff is ready to plead guilty. While he is ready to go down on his sword and face up to 150 years in prison on 11 charges, he's holding out on the conspiracy charge to avoid implicating others. The WSJ has a helpful primer on the Madoff case so far.
  
• Not in my lifetime? GE has lost its S&P AAA rating which the company had held since 1956 - the year of CEO Jeff Immelt's birth.
• Compensation consultant Johnson Associates believes Wall Street's longtime comp structure is going to change radically.
• The Oracle of Omaha has weighed in on suspension of mark-to-market debate.
• As MBA's enter the home stretch, the WSJ has a story on the state of hiring at London's banks. It's not pretty.