Jake's View | Pay up for market information - don't expect it to be free
Market prices are a valuable money-making asset, and regulators should not expect dealers to hand out such accurate figures for nothing
Banks are "struggling" to stamp out alleged collusion in the foreign exchange market, the chairman of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority watchdog, Martin Wheatley, told a parliamentary committee in London yesterday.
I always thought Martin Wheatley a little out of touch with the workings of financial markets when he was head of the Securities and Futures Commission here and I see he hasn't progressed much.
His mistake, a common one among regulators, is to think that information in financial markets comes free or, at least, that it should do so.
It does not and should not. Market information is valuable and should be treated so.
Take note here that I am not speaking of investment analysts' reports. These are mostly compendiums of yesterday's news with conclusions that are generally bullish to satisfy employers' interests but drawn more or less at random.