Banking's unfinished symphony

摘要

This is my final piece of the year, as IFR magazine goes into its short annual period of hibernation and as the fabled IFR awards are announced - our annual cue to run for the hills to escape any vitriol and venom from bankers convinced "I wuz robbed"! I've got to say that after writing close to 100 columns and blogs this past 12 months, moderating a dozen roundtables, chairing half a dozen conferences, having suffered some harried travel arrangements, and writing a bunch of longer-form pieces -including a blockbuster 4,000-word extravaganza on the history of Japanese banking over the past 20 years that came close to doing me in - I'm exhausted.