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    John Plender

    Senior Editorial Columnist

    John Plender is a Financial Times columnist. He has written for the FT since 1981, before which he was financial editor of The Economist. He is a winner of the Wincott Foundation senior prize for excellence in financial journalism.

    Until the late 1990s he combined his work for the FT with broadcasting roles at the BBC and Channel Four and has had a number of advisory positions including membership of the World Bank/OECD PrivateSector Advisory Group on Corporate Governance. He served on the steering group of the UK Company Law Review which provided the basis of the Companies Act 2006.

    Plender joined the board of Quintain plc as a non-executive director in 2002 and chaired the company from 2007 to 2009. He is currently a trustee of the £4bn Pearson pension fund. His latest book is Capitalism: Money, Morals and Markets (Biteback).

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    • Saturday, 11 November, 2023
      The Long ViewPrivate equity
      Private equity faces a reckoning

      The change in circumstances is dramatic after decades of triumphalist money making

      George Roberts and Henry Kravis, of KKR, pictured at the closing of the RJR Nabisco deal in the late 1980s
    • Friday, 11 August, 2023
      The Long ViewSovereign bonds
      Bonds are no longer the safe option

      In 2023, US equities have wiped the floor relative to the government IOUs

    • Friday, 7 July, 2023
      Gilts
      Bond bull markets: lessons from the past

      The reality is that nothing in fixed-income markets is ever risk-free

    • Thursday, 29 June, 2023
      Financial services
      Shed no tears over the travails of London’s equity market

      Rishi Sunak’s promotion of financial services misses the point that an oversized sector can harm the rest of the economy

      Skyline of the Canary Wharf business district in London
    • Monday, 5 June, 2023
      Markets InsightArtificial intelligence
      Why the AI boom is not a dotcom redux

      The simulation of human intelligence in machines has dramatic potential to change the way the economy works

    • Friday, 28 April, 2023
      The Long ViewGlobal inflation
      Companies may now be more resilient to inflation shocks

      While financial accounts may be distorted by rising prices, the squeeze on corporate cash flow is more bearable

      Economist Milton Friedman, pictured in 1980
    • Thursday, 20 April, 2023
      Capitalism
      Eye-popping executive pay rewards luck, not managerial wizardry

      In a sane world CEO pay would be primarily in cash with equity used only for exceptional performance

      Darren Woods in suit and tie gesturing with his right hand
    • Friday, 14 April, 2023
      Banking & Savings
      After the easy money: a giant stress test for the financial system

      Central banks are caught between tackling rising prices and ensuring stability but their actions hold risks for investors and borrowers

      Two businesspeople strain on a rope to prevent the Bank of England edifice toppling into a chasm while others are helped out of the hole
    • Tuesday, 28 March, 2023
      Markets InsightMonetary policy
      Inflation targets have left central banks in a bind

      Monetary policy does not lean against booms but eases aggressively in busts while debt keeps rising inexorably

      A Silicon Valley Bank branch in Wellesley, Massachusetts, US
    • Tuesday, 21 February, 2023
      Markets InsightGlobal Economy
      A neglected tool of central banks shows its worth

      Money supply numbers have been sending important signals before and during the pandemic

      The Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland
    • Saturday, 24 December, 2022
      The Long ViewCentral banks
      The central bank horror story

      A liquidity crisis could inflict reputational damage after slow responses to surging inflation

      Logos of the Bank of England, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan
    • Wednesday, 21 December, 2022
      The Big Read
      Lessons from the gilts crisis

      The meltdown was an early warning about radical changes in financial markets and suggests pension systems might not be fit for purpose

      Montage image showing a close up of the corner of a £20 note, where the Bank of England is written. Red semi-circles surround it
    • Monday, 19 December, 2022
      ObituaryBrian Reading
      Brian Reading, economist, 1936-2022

      An early ‘spad’, he became disillusioned with Labour’s interventionism and switched to the Tories

      Brian Reading in 2015
    • Wednesday, 16 November, 2022
      Markets InsightCentral banks
      Test for central bank credibility looms on likely bond losses

      Severe balance sheet weakness is symptomatic of how economies operate with minimal margins of safety

    • Tuesday, 8 November, 2022
      ReviewNon-Fiction
      Power Failure by William D Cohan — a gripping chronicle of General Electric

      One of the greatest dramas in business history is told with thoroughness and flair

      Two men in suits shake hands with a GE logo in the background
    • Friday, 7 October, 2022
      FT Best ofBest of FT Money 2022
      Time for investors to learn a new game

      In inflationary times, buy property, consider green investments and delay retirement

    • Wednesday, 28 September, 2022
      Markets InsightCentral banks
      Central banks have prepared a recipe for monetary overkill and liquidity crises

      While bankers are keen not to repeat 1970s mistakes, the financial environment and debt burdens are different now

      Jay Powell
    • Friday, 23 September, 2022
      The Weekend Essay
      Why trade couldn’t buy peace

      We thought globalisation was immune from geopolitical risk. We were wrong

    • Thursday, 8 September, 2022
      Markets InsightGlobal inflation
      The Great Reversal into a higher inflation environment

      Toxic combination of high debt and the shrinkage of central bank balance sheets greatly increases the risk of financial crises

      Postal workers during strike action outside Mount Pleasant Royal Mail sorting office in London, England on August 26 2022
    • Saturday, 11 June, 2022
      The Long ViewInvesting in funds
      Market mispricing of risk will continue

      The misallocation of capital is not just down to freakish monetary policy

      Illustration of a chart with arrows pointing up and down
    • Friday, 13 May, 2022
      Pensions
      Inflation: managing the threat to your pension

      The divide deepens between defined benefit and defined contribution schemes

    • Friday, 6 May, 2022
      The Long ViewMarkets
      Sanity appears to be returning to central bank policymaking

      Years of overblown asset prices and mispricing of risk may be giving way to more normal conditions

      Fed chair Jay Powell
    • Monday, 18 April, 2022
      Markets InsightMarkets
      Investors seeking havens must weigh geopolitical risks of China versus US

      Reserve currency competition is all about what constitutes the least unsafe option

      Drawing of carts of ingots at the entrance to the bullion vaults of the Bank of England in 1872
    • Friday, 1 April, 2022
      Advice & Comment
      Crypto vs gold: the search for an investment bolt hole

      The market in the yellow metal may be a bubble, but at least it’s a 6,000-year-old one. Meanwhile, bitcoin looks like a short-term fad

    • Monday, 28 February, 2022
      Inside BusinessPrivate equity
      Public markets might be set for a comeback

      A little of the gloss may finally be coming off private equity investments

    Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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