Being discreet is an important part of business etiquette

A manager is a repository of many confidences. There are confidences about a company such as new research projects, new development initiatives, new products to be introduced, new organisation structure, impending promotions, acquisitions, plans for transfers, quarterly or annual appraisals - and many others. Even more, there may be...

Credit card rules can be bizarre. Read the fine print on your credit card bill and spend prudently

In June 2007, MoneyLIFE carried a cover story on the complex and indecipherable credit card rules and how consumers are often duped or harassed by them. In fact, nearly 80% of complaints to the Reserve Bank pertain to credit cards. Our report had a simple conclusion: ‘customer beware’. There...

Why did quantitative techniques fail in the recent bloodbath? It’s not the failure of the models; it was like driving on a road full of rogue drivers. You can get hit despite your skills

In the recent bloodbath in the US market, one set of traders in the $1.5 trillion hedge-fund industry was supposed to come out as winners - those who practise quantitative techniques. Instead, Goldman...