Did the financial media in print alert the authorities to issues of public concern?
The financial media has always been at the forefront of exposing wrongdoing of companies. Some of the greatest financial scandals of our time from London and County Securities in 1973-74 through the Maxwell scandals between 1992-1996 have been uncovered as a result of journalistic inquiry. I first wrote about Northern Rock’s securitisation model and my doubts about it in 2002-2003. If only the FSA had paid more attention. I have little doubt that the old Bank of England, with its extensive market intelligence network, would have done. Such tip offs are invaluable. Resources of newspapers have become more stretched, so those investigatory opportunities are less. Earlier this year the Serious Fraud Office made arrests in Spain over an AIM company, on London’s junior market, which had gone wrong – Langbar. Much of the preliminary investigation of this was done by a colleague of mine Brian O’Connor since retired from journalism and now a fund manager. Similarly, we did valuable work on Ind
