What the future holds

[truenorth]

While many of us may have had our suspicions about the pervasiveness of this phenomenon this should end any doubt. While this deals with one company i am certain it is not only the practice of this company but is endemic throughout the corporate structure. One would be wise to determine where the influence of this company culture exists in their own country as a direct result of current office holders and their past association with the named firm. For instance Canada's current Governor of the Bank of Canada was a past executive of this firm and is as well the recently appointed head of a very influential International financial body.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-sachs.html?_r=2
truenorth

[Transfusion]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/05/hsbc-fined-selling-bonds-to-elderly
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2070151/HSBC-fined-thousands-lured-bonds-theyd-pay-out.html
 
The first thing that popped into my mind was this.
Even the media attempted to cover it up by using the euphemisms "mis-selling" and "unsuitable." They should instead have used the words "blatantly cheated" and "d*** ridiculous." When it is all too clear HSBC attempted to, well, swindle old folks into investing in bonds that they would probably never get returns from because the investment period of five years would already be longer than the person's life expectancy. And when the person passes away? "...HSBC which pocketed £4795" in commission."

[truenorth]

Absolutely despicable and not a single Government anywhere is dealing with this. truenorth

[Raptor]

So what did the guy do, exactly?

[truenorth]

"So what did the guy do, exactly? " What "guy" are you referring to?truenorth

[Raptor]

The guy that left goldman sachs.

[Transfusion]

So what did the guy do, exactly?

I can imagine you watching TV, searching for a good channel and saying this in a really off-hand manner....

If you are serious, you obviously haven't read the article... basically Greg Smith, former Goldman Sachs exec director (he wrote the article right after leaving), criticizes the well, rather psychopathic atmosphere that has come to stay at such investment, banking, and securities corporations in which the sole objective is the client's wallet. The "advisors" are basically conmen who think about the company's profit first, not the individual's welfare. And he writes a pretty long essay detailing such business practices.

EDIT: An hour ago: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/goldman-sachs-loses-market-value-after-searing-greg-smith-essay/2012/03/15/gIQAn686DS_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop

[Raptor]

Ah, I thought there was more to it. Bankers do this all the time, why did this come as such a shock?

[truenorth]

Further what does this say re the industry's attitude towards the revelation "One employee at Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch division, a competitor to Goldman Sachs, said his team was told not to send copies to clients." Based on the well established principal that ignorance is bliss or if we don't acknowledge it then it simply doesn't exist. truenorth
"Ah, I thought there was more to it" It would be interesting to know exactly how MUCH MORE you think there could BE to it?

[reddevilggg]

Ah, I thought there was more to it. Bankers do this all the time, why did this come as such a shock?

Ignorance of it and a general acceptance when it happens are the main reasons these people get away with it.

[Raptor]

I do my banking with Triodos. 

Triodos is unusual as it only lends to businesses and charities judged to be of social or ecological benefit. This "positive screening" extends its policies beyond those of ethical banks which solely avoid investing in companies judged to be doing harm ("negative screening"). The Bank uses money deposited by close to 100,000 savers and lends it to hundreds of organisations, such as fair trade initiatives, organic farms and social enterprises.

[truenorth]

Raptor, Very commendable of you to take such a personally responsible socially conscious approach to your own financial affairs. However i am sure that you can extrapolate that because you and others of the same inclination for a variety of factors are a small minority that your impact on the global financial environment is limited. The simple fact is that because of the existence of  such a predominance of the greed and predatory nature of the financial industry as related by Mr. Smith you and others like you do suffer the negativity that is created by the behavior of companies such as Goldman Sachs essentially to the same degree as the rest of us. Their impact is just too great for any individual regardless of their own habits to avoid it's impact.
As a further comment to my original post now that a period of time has past since the revelations of Mr. Smith is. How many jurisdictions where this company does business have used instruments of investigative agencies and regulatory agencies to call Mr. Smith before them to ascertain the specifics of his allegations so as to prepare their actions against this company's practices? And if as i suspect the answer is NONE then what does that tell us? truenorth