Lobbyists for the American banking industry will presumably be congratulating themselves on a hard game well won this week. Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve’s vice-chair for supervision, admitted that consultation process on new capital rules known as the “Basel Endgame” had been a “lesson in humility”.

Ever felt the unease when offshore analysts join an onshore team? It’s more than just logistical concerns. Mary Douglas’s book, Purity and Danger, offers a profound explanation. 

Why does remote working sometimes flop? Simple: bandwidth. 

When it comes to offshore engagements, the most significant predictor of success is simple: someone’s got to own communication. 

Davies worked as an economist at the Bank of England and as a bank analyst before moving to consulting and writing.

From the algorithm that raises your insurance premium to institutional denials over state scandals, it’s a problem with deep roots.

Of all the many curious things about investment banking, the titles it gives people are not the least.

Once, we were kings. In 2010, I was promoted to director at Credit Suisse’s top-ranked European banks research team. In those days, we managed emergency capital issuance for other banks, rather than answering questions about our own.

Have you listened to the most recent episode of Odd lots, Bloomberg Radio?

I was recently asked this in a meeting with a senior team from a global bank.

Cutting edge-work practices are non-standard ways of working which tend to increase productivity in higher value added roles.

As we start expanding our service range to cover equity, derivatives and risk as well as credit research, we have needed to expand our training and development programs to dvelop the skills of our analysts

As my friends of a certain age will understand, I often lose things. Do I lose things more than I did when I was a youth?  I’m not sure. But anyway, the solution is always the same – you need to know where things are.

It’s not easy being a bank these days. Flows are low; capital needs are higher than they were and that internet thingy is making the relationship between information and profits pretty dynamic.

I remember my first job interview. It was my first job after my postgraduate degree. The process concluded with a full day assessment centre. It was cold so I had to borrow a coat.  It didn’t fit. And I wasn’t massively comfortable in my suit either, which I had only worn previously to weddings.

As a credit analyst in India, there are a number of research firms touting themselves to you as offering global work.

The Indian Institutes of Management (“IIMs”) are the premier management education institutes in India. The IIM building program was initiated by India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, so that India could have a cadre of global-level managers.

Analysts with experience in the markets are valuable to you. Some experienced analysts will be recruited externally, but you would hope that most of your experienced analysts will have been developed internally, from the graduate program onwards.

Numbers are alluring. They are seductive and they are universal.