Enter the era of
the investment banking blog
The rapid introduction and development of Internet
technology has affected the staid world of investment banking
just as it has affected so many other areas of our lives. While
in previous years this area of commercial activity had a low
public profile the advent of the investment banking blog now
provides everyone who has an Internet connection with a range
of information and opinion about how the investment banking
business is conducted.
So what exactly is an investment banking
blog? It can be defined in simple terms as an online
information store that presents the public with information
about trends in investment banking, careers within the
industry, profiles of leading figures and various government
enactments or proposals that are likely to affect this
sector.
Blogs can be operated by bankers, by newspapers and anyone
else who is interested in this line of banking and believes
they have something to say which is going to be of interest to
the rest of the world. When it comes to assessing the
reliability of the information these blogs present, the reader
needs to treat them similar to other media and consider if the
writer may have a vested interest in viewing the industry from
a certain perspective or maybe they really do have sufficient
independence from bias to take a measured viewpoint.
A good example of a news site investment banking blog is the
DealBook blog associated with the New York
Times. A glance at the contents of the blog gives a good
idea of the kind of issues that interest investment
bloggers. Understandably this blog concentrates on the
situation in the United States and on a typical day in the
midst of the current recession it contains articles
reviewing past and present American government policy
towards the banking industry and it considers how the banks
are attempting to deal with the serious challenges of
company bailouts and bankruptcies and the difficulties of
raising capital in a recession.
A good example of an investment banking blog with a
different flavor is entitled “An Investment Banker’s Take on Life” and
it is written by a banker based in the Philippines. As his
title suggests, the blogger uses this forum to take a
personalized look at the investment business and to comment
as he sees fit on how countries get included on “black” or
“grey” banking lists according to their credit status and he
also ponders other major issues that are the talk of the
bank boardrooms. He also includes a fascinating section on
his life as an investment banker which gives a welcome human
touch to this Website and provides valuable insights into a
career that many readers might find attractive.
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