Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
Made to sweat on Madoff
Appearing before a Treasury Select Committee can’t be enjoyable at the best of times.
But when your clients may have lost around 2.3 billion euros in Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud, it must be positively painful.
“Your due diligence was absolutely and utterly duff,” Committee Chairman John McFall told Abbey chief executive and Santander executive vice president Antonio Horta-Osorio. “When you’re investing other people’s money you should have adequate due diligence.”
McFall added to Santander’s pain by telling the world he had watched evidence from Harry Markopolos, the man who had tried to blow the whistle on Madoff, on YouTube.
A pretty pair
The shrinkage of the UK-listed banking sector is providing an interesting trade for Legal & General Investment Management’s $46 million Global Macro fund.
After some dramatic share price falls, banks now account for only around 10 percent of the FTSE 100. According to LGIM’s head of asset allocation David North, this means any potential damage of further bank problems to the index is likely to be a lot less from here onwards.
