Lunchtime Links: The incredibly compelling game indicating whether you're good enough to work at Barclays Capital
Fancy working at Barclays Capital, near Bob Diamond, in Canary Wharf? Or simply so tired of the volatility in the markets that you're looking for a little distraction? Barclays Capital has just the thing for you.
Located on the firm's campus recruitment website, it's known as Mindmap and is a game professing to, "challenge your adaptability and mental ability." It does so by asking participants to solve simple word and numerical puzzles whilst watching some expanding and contracting spheres representing commodities to be bought or sold and deciding when to buy or sell them.
It sounds easy; it's not. Someone called Georgia has achieved a score of nearly 2,000. Most people get a lot less. The game officially ended last April, but all participants must enter their email addresses. If you enter and do well, it might attract the attention of BarCap's recruiters. Even if it doesn't, it might prove a welcome distraction from events.
In other news:
Rajani had 25 applications for graduate programs rejected after finishing university before impressing with the scope of his questions at a Barclays Capital presentation. (Bloomberg)
You have until Thursday to send the UK government your comments on financial services reform. (HM Treasury)
The European banking authority is considering legally-binding rules on pay and bonuses. (Irish Times)
Wait until you're 35 to save for a pension and then save 33% of your salary from 55 onwards. (Financial Times)
The discrete, secret, power-man at Goldman Sachs. (Bloomberg)
With its promise to buy "unlimited quantities" of foreign currencies, the SNB has agreed to provide an artificially cheap exchange rate for anyone seeking a safe haven from the eurozone. (Alphaville)
The SNB introduced a floor against the deutschmark in 1978. But inflation skyrocketed, reaching more than 7% in 1981. (Guardian)
Today, the Swiss franc moved more than 8% - that's a 20 standard deviation move. (Reuters)
35% (more than twice the international average) of 45-54 year old Britons are obese. (Insurance Day)
