The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.

In the current climate, there has been a marked increase in the willingness of stakeholders to litigate their financial services disputes. Given cost constraints, however, there is also a desire to settle financial disputes out of court or in a tribunal if at all possible. It is therefore a pertinent time to examine the attempted harmonisation across EU member states of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) schemes for financial disputes, especially as the results of the responses to the European Commission's December 2008 consultation paper in this area were published in September.

The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.

During the past two years, investors have faced one of the most challenging environments in living memory. When confidence in banks falters and markets crash, equity and debt investors are left asking: what will aid recovery and help prevent another crisis? We would argue that changes to financial disclosure and reporting are required. Specifically, investing in banks continues to be complicated by inconsistent accounting rules, fragmented regulation and less confidence in management to deliver.

The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.

For the past 20 or so years, the global financial community has tried to craft a common minimum regulatory capital standard for banks. The result has been a complicated framework that is not enforced consistently, is constantly under revision, and failed to contain contagion during the 2008 market meltdown. The time is right to consider whether this path continues to make sense.

The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.

While the current crisis continues to wreak the worst financial havoc seen since the Second World War, it is at best premature and most certainly hazardous to try to draw any conclusions.

The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.
The consensus explanation for the global financial crisis is that reckless lending to high-risk borrowers in the US created the credit crunch. This personalises the crisis (bonus-driven behaviour) and simplifies the solution (more state regulation). But this diagnosis is false and the consequent remedy would not prevent the next property boom and bust.

The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.
There is a good deal of support for Jacques de Larosière’s February 2009 report on how to 'repair' the EU's financial supervisory and regulatory structures, balancing just enough centralisation with national safeguards to get widespread support. But he barely considers the key question of who will provide funds to tackle a banking crisis if the decisions to save or let a bank go affect more than one country. While funding is a domestic problem, it is also a domestic political tool to be shaped in line with national objectives, national priorities and national beneficiaries.

Incoming US presidents often face significant financial headwinds. Barack Obama is facing a force-five hurricane. The world economy has swiftly transitioned from a position of reckless financial risk-taking to a situation that may be even worse – no financial risk-taking. To add to these difficulties, the emerging challenge is deflation. By David Smick.

Four firms dominate the auditing business globally and, between them, would appear to have more than 280,000 employees dedicated more or less exclusively to audit and assurance, generating approximately $48bn in fees. By Stephen Kingsley.