Understanding the financial crisis : investment, risk and governanceUpplaga 2010

The World has witnessed a global, financial pandemic; the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Many financial institutions that were commonly perceived as too big to fail did exactly that. The high levels of risk taking combined with what in some cases looked like greed appears to be driven by harmful social constructivism, to a large degree unchallenged by regulators, governance, risk management functions, systems and models. As a result, many people worldwide have lost their homes, their jobs, their savings and not least their confidence in the financial sector and the laws and entities regulating it. The book gives suggestions as to why the financial crisis happened. It presents thoughts, proposals and recommendations on how to avoid similar, future meltdowns in the financial sector and the financial markets and discusses the severity of the resulting negative impact on the real economy which the world has been seeing. The book reflects experience, research and thought leadership from experts and specialists in various disciplines: finance, economics, mathematics, risk, governance, compliance, IT and regulation among others, serving as a contribution to the work-in-progress aimed at building a new, substantial financial system. The book is written with management of the global investment management industry in mind. Yet, policy-makers, legislators, financial journalists, students and everyone else who has a stake or interest in the global financial industry per se will find the contents highly relevant for their understanding of the past as well as for the decisions they will have to take in the future.