Writing intros is hrad.
As a solution, of sorts, many FTAV bloggers officials resort to front-loading speeches with cringey, dated, heavy-handed references to popular culture.
The current king of this approach is the SEC’s Gary Gensler. Yesterday, he gave us this stimulating word jumble:
Sprake Gaz:
So the story goes, in 1871, Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern. Her barn was enflamed. The fire spread quickly through the wooden buildings of Chicago, and 2,100 acres burned.
In the following years, Chicago rebuilt itself with new rules and an upgraded fire department to limit the risk of flames raging across the city. Those Chicagoans understood this wasn’t just a simple accident of a cow and a lantern. It was about building materials and incentives related to the city’s infrastructure. It was about fire prevention and firefighting equipment. Building codes and fire departments, though they come at a cost and need for updates, have made the community more resilient for 150 years.
Finance, too, has seen fires starting in one barn that go on to engulf entire communities.
(OK, yes, FTAV has also recently referenced said pyromaniac bovine.)
Other recent Genslerisms include:
— “The ‘90s: Rom-coms, the Spice Girls, & MFA:” Remarks Before the Managed Funds Association— “The Beatles and the Treasury Market”: Remarks Before the us Treasury Market Conference— “The Name’s Bond:” Remarks at City Week
The standard format of course, includes then wrapping up by reminding people of the bizarre opening you put them through. In the cow case:
Financial history tells us sparks will fly from time to time. One never knows when a cow may kick over a lantern or go rogue — or risk in one financial institution may burn through the system.
The SEC has an important role to help protect for financial stability and promote markets that are more resilient to fires.
This is why the SEC’s resiliency projects are so important. We are focused on strengthening the building codes of finance to better protect our clients, the American public.
At Alphaville we are obviously fairly inured to this — and guilty of doing it ourselves — but even we were taken aback by a speech that just landed in our inbox from the Bank of England.
Here are words that BoE’s director of authorisations, regtech and international supervision, Rebecca Jackson, actually stood up and said out loud today at an Association of Foreign Banks Mansion House Lunch:
Jackson’s speech (which can be read in full here) goes on to make seven additional references to “starship PRA”, concluding thusly:
In conclusion, I hope I have convinced you that starship PRA is navigating a sound course; that we have a strong strategy to explore firms both through quieter times and crisis; that we are committed to promoting a dynamic industry in which we might seek new innovations and firms; and that through RegTech and Transforming Data Collection we can push out the efficient frontier and regulate as no one has before.
Frankly, we’re in awe. Ball’s in your court, Gary.
