US Banks' Lobbyists Help in Drafting Financial Bills

[Jan Klimkowski]

I remember working in the London office of a Wall Street firm back in the 1960's. There were two parts too the firm (let's call them trading and clients) and by law they had to have a so called "Chinese Wall" to protect against the acquisition of inside information by the trading arm from the clients side. The Chinese Wall consisted of a newly locked door. The door was always there it just had never been locked before. The lock was turned over the weekend and first thing Monday morning the head of trading, a feisty and loud-mouthed Swiss, went to open the door as usual, and found it inexplicably locked. He kicked it, banged it and shouted madly and threw a huge temper tantrum. It took less than an hour for the permanent removal of this particular Chinese Wall.

That firm went on to become CSFB. In an earlier incarnation it had acquired G H Walker & Co., the great grandfather of G H W Bush. It was "connected" in other words.

What fantastic imagery.

The kicking down of the Chinese Wall that never really existed.

A metaphor for the myth that banks and global markets were ever meaningfully regulated.