The truth about Asian investment banking
China’s $1.7 trillion hangover

China’s $1.7 trillion hangover

Up to 40% of China’s $1.7 trillion LGFV loans are at high risk of default. What’s a panicking Beijing to do?

March 2002

Argentina: Sovereign advisory elite in the shade

by Jules Evans

It's one of finance's most elite clubs, though its members don't accept that it exists. It's made up of the handful of heavyweight economists who advise governments in emerging-market crises while holding down senior positions at the investment banks that lend money and arrange financing for these countries. But Argentina has exposed the limits of their power and raised questions about whose interests they're serving.


David Mulford, chairman of CSFB International; Jacob Frenkel, chairman of Merrill Lynch International; E Gerald Corrigan, managing director of Goldman Sachs; Ernest Stern, managing director of JPMorgan Chase; Bill Rhodes, vice-chairman of Citigroup - put together they have around 125 years' experience in emerging markets.

They have been close to power - rarely quite in it - for 25 years each, as central bankers, World Bank or IMF economists, under-secretaries of the US Treasury and heads of Federal Reserve banks. And now they are putting their experience to use in the private sector as roving ambassadors for the world's biggest investment banks.

If a developing country's economy looks as if it is coming unstuck, there is a very good chance the country's finance minister will soon be sitting in a room with these people, trying to work out a deal. If you see one of this exclusive club talking to a finance minister...


You must be a trialist or subscriber to view this content

Please Subscribe or take a Free Trial below.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.





Download the Free Euromoney iPad app today