December 16, 2010

What a difference a different wording makes

Sir, John Gapper writes “Too often, banks were over-eager to take fees for what they wrongly regarded as low-risk activities that would not absorb regulatory capital”, “Madoff was Wall Street’s problem. December 16. What a strange way of wording it. I would have written “Banks, naturally, like taking fees, especially in those activities that because they are considered as low-risk by the regulators, require the banks to hold only minuscule regulatory capital. What a difference a different wording makes.