Sandy Weill has been named one of the top 5 architects of the financial crisis. As head of Citi in the late 90’s, Weill cobbled together the first great financial supermarket, Citigroup. Along the way, Weill’s acquisitions (Smith Barney, Travelers, etc.) and persistent lobbying shattered Glass-Steagall, the law that limited the investing risks banks could take. Today he does an about face: time to break up the big banks and stop having taxpayers underwrite investment bank risks. Here is a direct link.
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Sandy Weill recanting is like Attila the Hun saying he wished he’d stayed at home. The banks have run out of victims. No one trusts the banks so they can’t sell risk at premium prices any more. So how do regain investor’s trust? You become the wise, caring, protective grandfather. When you win their trust you have access to whatever money investors have left. Make no mistake, what he says is not that the perpetrator has changed, it’s that there are no victims left.