IB flow: new, new thing

“It’s all different now” is the not-so-refreshing refrain commonly heard from investment banks these days. Having realised too late that the last new paradigm of profiting from cheap short-term borrowing wasn’t sustainable, they’ve moved on to hawking the benefits of a risk-light business model rooted in trading for clients. Going with the “flow” has helped compensate for huge loan losses. In the first quarter, record trading volumes – buying and selling fixed income, currencies and commodities ...