Today's Financial Times runs my letter to the Editor regarding regulation of financial markets.
Here is my letter in full:
From Mr T.C. Smith
Sir, The recent letter by French president Sarzozy and German chancellor Merkel to the President of the European Commission on the subject of regulating short selling and the use of credit default swaps reminds me of an incident involving my father-in-law.
When he was a headmaster he was approached by the parents of a boy who asked him to stop other children taunting their son by calling him “Smelly”. He said that he could perhaps make an announcement in assembly asking them to desist, but he also suggested a more radical solution which would address the cause rather than the symptoms - namely getting the boy to bathe.
Perhaps if the Europe's political elite stopped trying to get markets to fund their grandiose designs and social engineering projects they would not need yet more regulation to control markets. In fact, financial markets are reacting exactly as they should do in the face of this profligacy and attempt to bribe the electorate with borrowed money.
Of course, sadly in the current age my father-in-law would be reported for politically incorrect treatment of a child who was soap-phobic.
T.C. Smith,
Chief Executive, Tullett Prebon
Deputy Chairman, Collins Stewart
London EC2, UK
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