Flow vs. Stock

This might be more of a tweet than a blog post, but I have always been deeply annoyed bypeople that compare flow variables like GDP,  to stock measures like bank assets.

"...he presides over an institution with assets that come close to the GDP of Spain..."

Compounded mistakes

This interesting article in the FT talks about the review on JP Morgan's models following the derivatives some months ago.

Regardless of whether you believe or not on your models, allowing silly mistakes in Excel formulas to go undetected when billions of dollars are shifting hands is really outrageous.

During my period in an investment bank in Brazil a long time ago, I remember a saying that "those who input things should let someone else double check the outcomes"...

If only they heard the wisdom from a BRIC country...