Tuesday 10 July 2012

All Tuckered out

Paul Tucker's testimony to the Treasury Committee was either a masterclass in talking a lot & saying very little or confirmation that just about anybody, with the right 'connections', can ascend to the position of Bank of England deputy governor.  

Either way and what's difficult to comprehend is why someone in Tucker's position would volunteer and publicly affirm, indirectly perhaps, a level of incompetence unbecoming of his position. Even with the benefit of hindsight, it's still difficult to justify Tucker's contention that the BoE had little reason to suspect irregular behavior in the LIBOR market. Minuted evidence from meetings Tucker chaired does, in fact, suggest otherwise. His indefensible contention, when pressed by the committee to answer directly, that he might have 'misinterpreted the signs' as early as 2007, does little to alleviate the negative public opinion.

Whether Tucker's self-preservation instincts motivated a 'massage of the truth' or even if he failed to show up at the LIBOR free-for-all at all, there's little justification or evidence sufficient to restore the level of competence his position demands.   

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