US Banks Falling Behind!

The plight of our US banking system- the very Middle East of the Financial Oil greasing the sprockets of the world economy - is at stake!

Facts as indisputable as Yeti roaming our flat Earth fuel my torment: first, that financial innovation drives the world. The fire in the belly so to speak. Second is that we measure financial innovation by how adept banks are at brazenly trampling all over regulations. This is self-evident and deserves no further explanation.

By these measures the latest FinCEN leaks paint a dark picture. City are barely mentioned. Even Goldman’s 1MBD project deserves at best a mention, but no room on the podium. The grand-total amount of suspected transactions is a paltry 2T or so, which is not even 60% of our 2021 budget deficit or of China’s foreign reserves.

More worrying, FinCEN exposes our derisory market-share in countries where financial innovation is flourishing. Surely, Wells got the Khrapunov account in Kazakhstan which, incidentally, was way under a billion. But the Astana account- Central Asia’ crown jewel of financial innovation – probably went to the Brits, aided as they may have been by Blair’s early and expert advising of Nazarbayev.

Pundits estimate the unaccounted outflow of China’s balances to more than 150B per year. These are hefty, beautiful funds begging for expert financial innovation. And what did we get out of this bonanza, according to FinCEN? Wells Fargo's 80M, yes, with an “M” from Phil Ming Xu, swindler of barefoot Peruvians, of the ordinary Ponzi scheme kind.

We badly need a fresh crop of homegrown risk-takers, ready and able to swindle us and the world, unafraid of first becoming multi-millionaires, only to much, much later be losing their jobs and retire in the Caribbeans. We need bank directors undaunted by the prospects of paying fines amounting to up to ten percent of incoming government handouts, while sternly denying any misconduct.

Our former teachers in the UK and the shifty Swiss have always given us a “run for the money” in the financial innovation race. We cannot possibly allow the Chinese into this game, or, God forbid, the French. (The Germans are not a concern, as they always get caught.)

The future of financial innovation is at stake!