Howard Davies
Howard Davies, a former chairman of Britain’s Financial Services Authority, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, and Director of the London School of Economics, is a professor at Sciences Po in Paris.
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2011-12-14
| David Cameron's veto of the plan to save the euro was a big gamble, and suggests that the UK is shuffling towards the EU exit.... read |
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2011-10-19
| Almost everyone nowadays agrees that banks need more capital. But a wide gap has opened up between financial authorities and the banks on the costs and benefits of the much higher capital requirements that regulators are now demanding.... read |
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2011-08-19
| “April is the cruelest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot at the beginning of his great poem, “The Waste Land.” But, if Eliot had been a professional investor who had observed European financial markets over the last few years, his choice most likely would have been August.... read |
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2011-06-23
| Back in 2002, all of China’s major banks were awash in non-performing loans, which in some cases amounted to more than 10% of the total balance sheet. Less than a decade later, much has changed – with some important lessons for Western regulators.... read |
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2011-04-18
| Over the last three years, oceans of ink (or bytes) have been expended on articulating schemes to solve the conundrum of “too big to fail” banks. But a new report by the UK's Independent Banking Commission casts serious doubt on the main proposals for reform.... read |
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2011-02-21
| The international system of financial regulation remains a spider’s web of committees, councils, and agencies with overlapping responsibilities, unrepresentative memberships, and inadequate enforcement powers. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, which chairs the G-20 this year, should push for a modicum of global coordination and consistency.... read |
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2010-12-20
| In narratives of the financial crisis, regulatory capture is often an important part of the story. But, while the revolving door between regulators and the financial industry is a cause for concern - as is intellectual capture - regulators were not surrogate lobbyists.... read |
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2010-10-20
| For almost two decades, ever since George Soros forced the Bank of England to abandon its exchange-rate target for sterling, conventional wisdom has held that countries’ monetary policy should focus on domestic price stability while letting exchange rates float freely. But that wisdom is now being challenged.... read |
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2010-10-19
| Despite the financial crisis, New York and London, still lead all rankings of the world's financial centers. But Asian financial centers are closing the gap, and, unless the US and Britain call a truce between the state and the markets soon, those markets may move elsewhere.... read |
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After the Golden Age of Finance
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Howard Davies 
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It is hard to believe that we will quickly return to the heady growth in financial assets, credit, and risk we saw from the 1970’s to 2007. Financial-sector returns are likely to be lower – returns of 20% on equity targets are a thing of the past – and lower profitability will reduce pay more effectively than any direct regulatory controls.... read
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2009-07-13
| For at least a quarter-century, the financial sector has grown much more rapidly than the economy as a whole, both in developed and in most developing countries. But there is strong evidence that this was a relatively short-term phenomenon, and that the industry's salad days are well and truly over.... read |
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2010-12-20
| In narratives of the financial crisis, regulatory capture is often an important part of the story. But, while the revolving door between regulators and the financial industry is a cause for concern - as is intellectual capture - regulators were not surrogate lobbyists.... read |
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2010-08-19
| It is hard to believe that we will quickly return to the heady growth in financial assets, credit, and risk we saw from the 1970’s to 2007. Financial-sector returns are likely to be lower – returns of 20% on equity targets are a thing of the past – and lower profitability will reduce pay more effectively than any direct regulatory controls.... read |
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2011-08-19
| “April is the cruelest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot at the beginning of his great poem, “The Waste Land.” But, if Eliot had been a professional investor who had observed European financial markets over the last few years, his choice most likely would have been August.... read |
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2011-12-14
| David Cameron's veto of the plan to save the euro was a big gamble, and suggests that the UK is shuffling towards the EU exit.... read |
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2011-06-23
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| Back in 2002, all of China’s major banks were awash in non-performing loans, which in some cases amounted to more than 10% of the total balance sheet. Less than a decade later, much has changed – with some important lessons for Western regulators.... read |
-
2011-04-18
| Over the last three years, oceans of ink (or bytes) have been expended on articulating schemes to solve the conundrum of “too big to fail” banks. But a new report by the UK's Independent Banking Commission casts serious doubt on the main proposals for reform.... read |
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2010-06-18
| The European Central Bank has begun to buy government bonds, including those of Greece, at prices well above those that would prevail in a free market. But the decision to do so was not unanimous, and has exposed issues concerning the ECB's governance that Europe’s decision-makers have wanted to keep under the carpet.... read |
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2011-02-21
| The international system of financial regulation remains a spider’s web of committees, councils, and agencies with overlapping responsibilities, unrepresentative memberships, and inadequate enforcement powers. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, which chairs the G-20 this year, should push for a modicum of global coordination and consistency.... read |
2011-06-23
