Living dangerously: Diary of an ABS professional, Week 9
In which Mr ABS blames Mervyn King for Northern Rock, and attends another interview.
It hasn't been a good week for the ABS bankers of the world: I've heard of yet more casualties. Sadly, a lot of good names in our industry have been chopped.
My definition of a good name is someone I would have been happy to work with/for (before the credit crunch, as I have now revised my standards downwards). I feel sorry that they have joined the band wagon, not only for their sake, but also because my address book of employed people is getting thinner by the day, as are my prospects of finding a new position with the help of my contacts.
At least, though, there is less and less stigma attached to being made redundant.
Last week, it was with interest that I listened to Mervyn King rewriting the chain of events leading up to the Northern Rock crisis during his much publicised speech in Bristol. Northern Rock was the focus of rating agencies and research analysts as early as July and August. There would not have been any Northern Rock crisis had the BoE accepted mortgages as eligible collateral as the ECB did.
What I like about the Fed is that it does not lecture the market or waste its time with seafaring analogies or symbolic rate cuts. However, I very much appreciated the effort made by the Governor to lower himself to the level of his audience by using analogies he thinks they're capable of understanding. I assume that if the speech had been delivered in Sheffield, instead of Bristol, he would have mentioned steel. It was a shame the speech wasn't given in Wales: clichéd sheep jokes would have been even more enjoyable.
Even though Mervyn's reappointment was expected, it was with sorrow that I heard the news. Times are tough and real leadership is needed, not lectureship. Ben Bernanke clearly displayed true leadership with two macho rate cuts.
I appreciate that the BoE has a strong focus on inflation, but food expenses clearly represent the smallest part of my monthly budget and I do not mind CPI (which is currently at 2.1%) doubling or tripling if I can pay less on my mortgage, which is by far my most considerable expense. I also appreciate that old people and the poor are more sensitive to CPI than I am, but by showing some strong leadership in that matter the King could solve two of the perils facing our society - the pension deficit and the obesity epidemic.
I had an interview this week. It was with a third tier bank and I had never heard of my interviewer before. The instant feedback I got from the headhunter was that my interviewer is looking for someone more experienced than me. I modestly thought that I was already a bit too experienced for the role. Any more experienced than me and he will be hiring someone who will take his place within weeks.
Last night, I dreamt of the HR midget who kicked me out of the bank. I shared my nightmare with one of my co-casualties, and he laughed. For a moment I felt ashamed to have revealed my night terrors, but then he admitted he'd had several bad dreams where she featured too.
