Tag: Wall Street

Short end of the bargain


I was at another CPD session yesterday but this time it was out of a work driven requirement. The ever growing need to reconcile corporate drivers (profit, margins, market share) with the equally increasing volume in terms of noises made, from the community perspectives. So a corporate entity seeks to report on its corporate social responsibility which was all the rage where I was some 5-6 years ago.

Apparently this has evolved and corporations are now required to report not just how it discharges its CSR, but also how its vision, mission, objectives, strategies, activities etc creates value not just for the corporation but also for its shareholders and all stakeholders at large.

That was why I rocked up to the session yesterday but as is often the case, the delivery was something else.

It was partly my bad however – while the promotional literature talked about “Global Reporting Initiative” and “Integrated Reporting” framework, the workshop was targeted at people who had to produce the report as a whole – albeit incorporating aspects of GRI and possibly, into the future, IR. Maybe the letters GRI and IR jumped out because I was looking for such material. I was possibly misled because of my own agenda and priorities.

Sometimes however, one is misled not because of undisclosed agenda or expectations. One is often misled because counter-party misled you. Tham Fuan Yee proclaims you are his first team, he publicly says things like it would be crazy for him to forge ahead without board support – it would be suicidal even, for him to proceed in this manner – yet actions and day-to-day words suggest to be his first team and to support him means no questions are to be asked. Any questions asked are interpreted as lack of support. That then gets communicated to everyone working for him. The Board is prevented from communicating to the same persons and so that miscommunication is never given a different perspective. Over time, the board is made to appear to be obstructive and unreasonable.

One feels betrayed and short changed. To be treated this way by a pastor hurts immeasurably. The damage is far more destructive than a day lost in mismatched training. To this day, our church life suffers and I feel like a homeless potted plant seeking to be part of a productive plot. Thanks Tham Fuan, for the continuing damage you wrought. Thanks to your harsh words and inexplicable nonchalance for so long, I continue to wander. Instead of gathering like a godly man would, you have succeeded in scattering. Tham Fuan, do you know how that is?

pIGs


Silvio’s peccadilloes? No one’s laughing or simply annoyed anymore. Italy‘s sovereign risk issues have triggered a Wall Street bloodbath overnight. Another plunge – this time just over 3% n the Dow and nearly 4 on the Nasdaq – means things continue to look really gloomy, even worse than the storms in Melbourne overnight. I wonder if Europe PIGS scenario can get any worse. I’m really glad I didn’t take the London option back in 2004. What will become of the economic scene, I wonder…

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Occupy Everywhere


Occupy Wall Street. Occupy London. Occupy Melbourne. This “Occupy Wherever” movement has come to our doorstep. No one has quite worked out what these groups are occupying wherever for, but it seems to be gathering momentum.

The general common denominator for all those who have turned up, seems to be that the rich gets richer whereas the rest of the population (99%, so they say) are either poorer or not getting richer, at least.

So what else is new? The fat cats – in Wall Street, Collins Street (non-Paris end) or Spring Street – have always been in the minority. That’s just the way it is. It is a combination of hard work, intelligence, connections and circumstances and either divine providence or pure luck, depending on your metaphysical beliefs.

I don’t know if it is a social justice and equality issue. It may well be. Wall Street and Collins Street riches however, are symptoms of whatever societal imbalances and injustices we may have, not the cause. Theoretically at least, all Australians have equal access to education, employment and career progression. No one is systematically or institutionally excluded from any of these channels – it is a question of who is the best.

There may be issues of the factors which arm one to be the best and equality of access to these but the State has always provided assistance to try and equalise any inequitable access or opportunities. It is hardly the fault of the likes of Wall Street or Collins Street.

Maybe there is something to these “Occupy Wall Street”, “Occupy London” or “Occupy Melbourne” protests but it would take a bit of thinking and hard work to get there. What would it take for this to be realised? Statistically, perhaps only 1% of the hundreds or thousand of protestors will have the intelligence, industry and wherewithal to produce and articulate a cause upon which this movement may be based. They may even pay this 1% something to produce this. So maybe 99% of these protestors would not produce the goods and so would not be paid. Would there be protest against THAT? 🙂

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The Power of Oui


Another year, another major event or transaction. I joined the company in 2007. In 2008 the meltdown of Wall Street banks scorched. AIG was singed and barely survived. In 2009 the “crown jewels” of AIG, its Asian life insurance business, was packaged up for a float. A very big float. In fact it was too big for associated risks to be palatable. With market exposed to Greece and the rest of the PIGS, going to market was always going to be a touch uncertain. So the big Pru’s overtures come 2010 couldn’t have been better timed. “Transformational” it may promise to be and impressive Mr Tidjane Thiam may look on paper, but the deal is so riddled with hurdles and potholes that it will take every bit of Tidjane’s intelligence and charisma to pull this one through. Already it seems he has been able to reach out to sovereign funds to come alongside to play a role in one form or another, in support of the massive rights issue. Will he be the Obama of insurance, “Oui We Can?” I jokingly sent my colleagues a picture of Tidjane, with a caption “The Power or Oui”. A bit of a send up to the “Power of We” campaign undertaken by AIA recently. I have a feeling that whoever has doubts about whether this deal will carry, probably needs to know Mr Tidjane Thiam a bit more. I think he is the man of the hour. Is Prudential acting against the spirit of its name in acquiring a “brasher, bolder and more brazened” competitor? With Tidjane Thiam swashbuckling away, the power of oui may just carry the day.

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