Traders, Guns & Money Quotes

“The truth is that banks are the last feudal kingdoms, their rulers omnipotent, divine warlords. Their key lieutenants are 'ronin' (wandering mercenary samurai) who roam financial markets ready to ally themselves to any warlord for a share of plunder. This is not the place to apply the latest management theory.”
― Satyajit Das, Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives

“Fashion models and financial models are similar. They bear a similar relationship to everyday world. Like supermodels, financial models are idealized representations of the real world, they are not real, they don't quite work the way that the real world works. There is celebrity in both worlds. In the end, there is the same inevitable disappointment" - Satyajit Das, Traders, Guns & Money”
― Satyajit Das, Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives

“Risk management seemed to have completed its transformation into pure entertainment. Dudley seemed the epitome of a risk manager who would drown crossing a river that was 12 inches in depth on average.”
― Satyajit Das, Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives

“Traders risk the bank’s capital: they literally bet the bank, at least up to their limits. If they win then they get a share of the winnings. If they lose, then the bank picks up the loss. Traders might lose their jobs but the money at risk is not their own, it’s all OPM – other people’s money. What if the losses threaten the bank’s survival? Most banks are now ‘too big to fail’ and they can count on government support. Regulators are wary about ‘systemic risk’, and no regulator with an eye to their place in history wants the banking system to be flushed down the toilet on their watch. Traders can always play the systemic risk trump card. It is the ultimate in capitalism – the privatization of gains, the socialization of losses.”
― Satyajit Das, Traders, Guns and Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives

“In truth, a good chunk of activity in derivative markets is driven by speculation. Part of it is obscured by semantics; the boundary between speculation and investment is always hazy. If you lost money you speculated. If you made money you were investing. Or was it the other way around?”
― Satyajit Das, Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives