Monday, 27 October 2008

Interesting idea

Over at Samizdata: does limited liability lead to a lack of care?

However, there are still some nooks and crannies of the banking world where unlimited liability still exists and works successfully. The Swiss private bank Pictet, founded in 1805 in that memorable Napoleonic battle year of Austerlitz and Trafalgar, operates a partnership system where the bank partners face unlimited liability. As a result, Pictet operates a very conservative lending and investment policy. During the fat years of the 'Noughties, Pictet may have seen some of its more aggressive competitors steal a march, but now the bank is attracting inflows from investors who appreciate the structure of the firm. At a time when Swiss banks have sometimes attracted bad headlines due to massive losses undertaken by over-confident people, the example of Pictet is an interesting contrast.


I think that's a pretty good idea: businessmen would not fuck about half as much as some of them do if they knew that one bad decision could bury them forever.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

But then would removing limited liability also not stifle innovation and risk taking?

Anonymous said...

Obo: See here

Obnoxio The Clown said...

@ingram: I agree, business growth would be a lot slower, but we wouldn't see "Tory" boom and bust.

Anonymous said...

at the moment, it's not tory boom and bust I'm worried about ;)

Anonymous said...

It's an interesting idea and, whilst not necessarily ideal, it's got to be better than the moral hazard we're swamped in.