The Bank Job Vanity Fair – January 2010 Issue (Released December 1, 2009) By Bethany McLean But outsiders say Goldman’s dealings with A.I.G. look more complicated than that. A memo written by Joseph Cassano, the former head of the A.I.G. financial-products division, shows that some of the securities Goldman insured with A.I.G. were created by none other than Goldman itself. Janet Tavakoli, a structured-finance expert who runs her own consulting firm in Chicago and wrote a book on C.D.O.’s in 2003, notes that Goldman’s deals also figure prominently in the list of C.D.O.’s upon which other firms bought insurance. Which is why, she says, “Goldman was responsible for huge systemic risk, and now they’re trying to pretend they weren’t.” Finally, on November 17, as criticism mounted, Blankfein issued a public apology: “We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret.” Janet Tavakoli is the president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, a Chicago-based firm that provides consulting to financial institutions and institutional investors. Ms. Tavakoli has more than 20 years of experience in senior investment banking positions, trading, structuring and marketing structured financial products. She is a former adjunct professor of derivatives at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. She is the author of: Credit Derivatives & Synthetic Structures (John Wiley & Sons, 1998, 2001), Structured Finance & Collateralized Debt Obligations (John Wiley & Sons, 2008). Janet Tavakoli's book on the global financial meltdown is Dear Mr. Buffett: What An Investor Learns 1,269 Miles From Wall Street (Wiley 2009) Clients of Tavakoli Structured Finance have the benefit of proprietary consultation, which is not available in any other paid or public forum. Clients also commission proprietary research and analysis. TSF makes some information available to the general public. Please click here for other articles.
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Janet
Tavakoli, President: jt@tavakolistructuredfinance.com
TEL: (312) 540-0243