Looking for direction

Thomas Fischer deserves some sympathy. WestLB, the German bank that he runs, is getting more hostile attention than it probably deserves for its 14% stake in DaimlerChrysler, worth $9bn. While the holding is a big one for a mid-sized bank, the hedged position carries almost no risk, as the bank claims. But Fischer has a credibility problem. He is still trying to explain how WestLB managed to lose a reported E100m in late March on trading the price gap between preferred and ordinary Porsche shar...