FX: Cowboys and CDOs
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Foreign Exchange

FX: Cowboys and CDOs

There used to be a time when FX was looked down on as an industry. As I’ve written before, I don’t think there is any other self-regulated financial market that is as clean as FX.

Sure, it has its problems and the odd sharp practice does occur, but the cowboys seem to have been attracted to other markets, as this video clip shows. The song, apparently by Nashville singer Merle Hazard, is set to the music of D-I-V-O-R-C-E.


According to USA Today, Hazard is the alter ego of Jon Shayne, which sounds just a bit too much like John Wayne to me. Apparently, Shayne runs Nashville investment advisory firm Shayne & Co. USA Today says that Shayne (Ed: Didn’t that short bloke Alan Ladd play him in a western?) came up with the name as a pun on ‘moral hazard’. If CDO investors are bailed out, he argues it will only encourage more bad punts in the future.


Talking of which, the most reckless punt I ever made was to produce a record back in 1990 when I was living in New York. Music and finance – what an odd mix.


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