Five years ago, Euromoney was catching up over lunch with a senior figure at a large European bank. Something was troubling him. His private bankers were reporting that emissaries from a large US-based hedge fund had been approaching wealthy European clients telling them that they had unearthed a secret formula to extract regular, risk-free returns from the stock markets.
Against all common sense, some wealthy clients seemed to be falling for this outrageous pitch.
Euromoney asked around the hedge fund community and got a similar response from several sources: are you sure this isn’t Bernie Madoff they’re talking about?
Madoff’s reputation was long established. The most troubling aspect of the alleged fraud is that the warning signs were there for years for investors, risk managers, regulators and journalists to see. ...
