Caught My Eye

Where is Erin?

ForteBlog readers, I must apologize for my relative silence. I've had trouble with my eyes the last few weeks which in turn makes it uncomfortable to view my computer screen. Doctors have been consulted and I am on a course of treatment that is helping (its apparently an allergy that has caused the inflammation). But […]

Careers Current Events Finance

CFO = Least Secure Job in Corporate America

According to Gordon Grand, head of CFO recruiting at search firm Russell Reynolds Associates CFO is "the least secure job in corporate America" as reported in the WSJ. Recruiters and finance chiefs say CFOs are quitting or being ousted because the demands of the job are growing. CFOs were handed new responsibilities in 2002 by […]

Current Events Economic Outlook Research Round Up

Official Word: We're in a Recession (and have been for 12 months)

It's official. We entered a recession in December 2007. Read the statement from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) here. Coverage: Wall Street Journal New York Times The Economist Free Exchange Blog Bloomberg

Current Events

Humor: Krugman-Bush Photo Caption Contest (Freakonomics)

Some levity for you via the Freakonomics blog. Last week they posted this photo of President Bush congratulating Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman and ran a caption contest.  Photo: The Economist What was Krugman thinking? Check it out: Call for entries – see comments for the 300+ captions that were submitted. There are 200 more […]

Current Events Finance Financial Reporting

Forecasting Anxiety

Not surprisingly, CFOs and finance executives are struggling to forecast revenue and profit in the midst of market uncertainty. CFO Magazine reports that companies are strengthening their scenario-planning, sensitivity analysis, and contingency planning capabilities and refreshing their plans more frequently. CFO.com forecast survey (November 2008): Source: CFO.com Read more here.

Blogging Strategy Technology Web 2.0 in Financial Services

Join the Debate on Banking and Social Media

Over at the Bankervision blog an exchange between leading banking bloggers Chris Skinner (of FinanSer) and James Gardner (at Bankervision) has prompted a lively exchange of comments from the banking and social media community online. This is my contribution to the commentary From my perspective, banks should proactively participate in social media, not to make […]

Banking Economic Outlook Research Round Up Treasury & Cash Management

CFOs on Tightening Credit and Deteriorating Commercial Banking Services

According to a recent survey by CFO.com of finance executives, not only does it cost more to borrow in the current climate, but the quality and breadth of services available from commercial lenders has deteriorated. Seems the bankers are too preoccupied trying to remain in business and keep their jobs to tend to their customers. […]

Current Events Finance Regulatory Environment

The New Yorker's Surowiecki on Geithner

The Financial Page in next week's New Yorker is devoted to Timothy Geithner: For better or worse, we now live in a world in which the Treasury Secretary controls hundreds of billions of dollars in spending and shapes the fate of some of the nation’s biggest companies. That’s quite a job to ask someone to […]

Blogging Current Events Finance

Sad News - Finance Blogger Tanta at Calculated Risk Passed Away Yesterday

Condolences to her family and to Bill McBride at Calculated Risk. Her expertise, dry humor, and prescient commentary will be missed. From the NYTimes Thanks in large part to Tanta’s contributions, Calculated Risk became a crucial source of prescient analysis as the housing market at first faltered, then collapsed and finally spawned a full-blown credit […]

Accounting Current Events Regulatory Environment

Accounting implications of Obama appointing Volcker

CFO.com points out that Paul Volcker has strong views on accounting topics that might soon become prominent fixtures of administration economic policy. For example, here are topics/issues that he will undoubtedly have influence over (quoting CFO.com): [His experience creating and then serving as head of International Accounting Standards Board and attempting to reform Anderson immediately […]

Banking Current Events Regulatory Environment

Bailout Scorecard at WSJ MarketBeat - thank you regulators!

In honor of Thanksgiving the WSJ MarketBeat blog updated its bailout scorecard. The matrix summarizes who was bailed out, describes the program, why, who was helped, who paid, and – most importantly – is it working?   Check it out here.

Current Events

Are you the CEO of your Thanksgiving?

Today's NYTimes has a funny piece on Thanksgiving, urging readers to be CEO – define a vision, and delegate most of the work. It's tongue-in-cheek but has some kernels of truth. But beware, the "organizing to execute" style of management can be exhausting, though, and runs the risk of everyone talking for years to come […]

Banking Regulatory Environment

Quick Reference Guide to Federal Reserve Lending Facilities

Confused by the various Fed lending programs for banks? Here's a handy quick reference guide from the Fed Reserve of NY.   Download PDF

Banking Mobile Banking & Payments Technology

Mobile Banking 101

[via PaymentsNews] The website howstuffworks (from the folks at the Discovery Channel) has a primer on mobile banking – it's geared toward consumers but it's interesting for us industry insiders to see how they characterize the service offerings and technology. The article is divided into 6 chapters Introduction to How Mobile Banking Works (conceptual intro) […]

Research Round Up Security

Most popular offerings of cybercriminals? Bank account info and credit cards with security codes.

The economist has a nice graphic summarizing data from Symantec that shows that the most popular "products" on offer from cybercriminals in the underground economy are – not surprisingly – bank account details (for accounts that have on average a balance of nearly $40K) and credit cards with security codes.  The bank account details will […]