at last an honest opinion apart from mine

USE THE KISS PRINCIPAL AND YOU WON'T GO FAR WRONG.

all you guys out there with complex trading programes had better take note. it may all look good with money spinning ideas a plenty but this month could be awful so i hope you don't wake up one morning with your stop losses the wrong side of the fence. it'll happen and very likely over the next 30 days.

fwiw,

40.

from jolly ole blomberg ...



`Ludicrously Complex' Bank Products Attacked by U.K. Lawmakers

By Gonzalo Vina

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- British lawmakers, criticizing bankers and financial supervisors over their handling of the global credit crisis, warned investment banks to make their financial products more transparent or face extra regulation.

Lawmakers want to avoid ``detailed regulation,'' although such an approach may be needed unless banks address the ``problem of overly complex products,'' the House of Commons Treasury Committee said in a report today.

The panel is investigating how defaults on subprime mortgages in the U.S. rippled through the financial system after credit markets froze. The largest banks and securities firms have reported $163 billion in writedowns on holdings tied to subprime loans. In the U.K., Northern Rock Plc was forced into public ownership after finding itself unable to raise funds.

``The best and the brightest at our top investment banks have expended great energy designing ludicrously complex financial products,'' Treasury Committee Chairman John McFall said. ``Product complexity has introduced increased opacity into our financial system, making it almost impossible to determine where risk lies.''

Financial firms may face at least $600 billion of losses as the credit squeeze batters banks, brokers and insurers, UBS AG analysts said in a report on Feb. 29.

Northern Rock, the first U.K. bank to suffer a run on deposits in more than a century, was nationalized on Feb. 17 after a five-month search to find a private buyer ended in failure. The bank has required 55 billion pounds ($108 billion) of public loans and guarantees to stay afloat since its credit lines dried up.

Financial Regulators

The panel also urged financial regulators to improve communication with the directors of banks. The Bank of England and Financial Services Authority, the markets regulator, should highlight ``two or three'' of the most important risks and discuss them with the boards of banks, the committee said.

It also pledged to examine whether bonuses encourage bankers to take too many risks. Hector Sants, chief executive officer of the FSA, said Feb. 27 that bank bonuses contribute to financial instability because they encourage short-term behavior and fail to penalize dealmakers when trades go wrong.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gonzalo Vina in London at [email protected]

Last Updated: March 2, 2008 19:21 EST