Issue in Corporate Failure of Bank Essay Example for Free

Issue in Corporate Failure of Bank Essay It also raised millions of revenue by accounting techniques to show false profits and hided their losses which occur in trading and bad debt. The biggest bank fraud in history According to Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, the BCCI scandal that came to light in 1991 was the largest bank fraud in world history. Perhaps no other criminal enterprise has involved or at least embarrassed so many prominent people, from billionaire Arab sheikhs to Third World dictators to present and former leading figures in the U. S. and British governments. Certainly none could match the international web of financial chicanery, political intrigue, and unsavoury figures with which BCCI was said to be associated. (Source: Encyclopaedia Encarta 2007) BCCI was engaged in four major frauds. One was a cover-up of $633m of losses on treasury trading. The second was the illegal acquisition through nominees of several banks in the US, in which it spend $346m. The third was a complex manipulation of accounts to prop up its largest borrower, the gulf shipping group of Pakistan, to which it lent more than $725m, which was over the limit set by banking regulations. The fourth was fundamental fraud by which BCCI allegedly acquire secret control of 56% of its own shares at a cost of over $500m. BCCI was a serpent eating its own tail. These sums add up to more than $2bn. But this is a minimum: it omits the enormous cost to BCCI of financing its secret losses. The manipulation to cover up the fraud involved another $2bn, bringing the grand total to well over $4bn. BCCI frauds were the main reasons for its corporate failure. The scale the fraud is breathtaking enough. But while most frauds involve the disappearance of real money, BCCI did the exact opposite. It manufactured billions of dollars out of nothing to conceal gaping holes in its balance sheet, like a giant game of ‘Double Your Money’. This involved extraordinary financial gymnastics and illegal loans on a huge scale. When BCCI finally came crashing down, it was not with a thud, but in a shower of paper. (Behind Closed Door: FT Publication) BCCI initiated every single route to excel its growth. In a first place its corporate structure was so complicated which involved uses of shell corporations frequently termed as satellites, bank confidentiality and secrecy. BCCI’s top management including nominees which also includes some famous personalities in politics were involved in corruption and made it a supreme atmosphere for crime. BCCI’s criminalities included, †¢Fraud by BCCI and BCCI customers involving billions of dollars; money laundering in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas; †¢BCCIs bribery of officials in most of those locations, †¢Support of terrorism, arms trafficking, and the sale of nuclear technologies; †¢Management of prostitution; †¢The commission and facilitation of income tax evasion, smuggling, and illegal immigration; †¢Illicit purchases of banks and real estate. Source: Walker, L. 2001) Abdul Basir, head of BCCI Pakistan operation, says: â€Å"We looked after clients in the most efficient, personalised manner. † The diamond market which is home to Lahore’s famous dancing girls, Prostitutes, who for centuries have provided entertainment for emperors and their cour tiers – and latterly for politicians, Arab Sheikhs and bankers. BCCI used these girls to treat Arabs rich businessmen and major shareholders. BCCI’s Zafar Iqbal, former chief executive, was in charge of managing prostitutes. Corporate Failure of BCCI There were two main reasons of BCCI’s corporate failure apart from their criminal activities. These were high risk loans and trading. A bank’s treasury plays a key role in managing its financial affairs by trading large amounts of money and currencies. Some if this dealing is done on behalf of clients. But bank treasuries also speculate on whether currencies will rise or fall, using their own money. BCCI was no exception. According to Price Waterhouse, the bank combined these two activities by trading huge amounts of clients’ money – but in its own name, and without their knowledge.

Classical Greek Philosophical Paideia in Light of the Postmodern Occidentalism of Jacques Derrida :: Philosophy

Classical Greek Philosophical Paideia in Light of the Postmodern Occidentalism of Jacques Derrida ABSTRACT: In his writings during the 60s and 70s, Derrida situates his doctrine of diffà ©rance in the context of a radical critique of the Western philosophical tradition. This critique rests on a scathing criticism of the tradition as logocentric/phallogocentric. Often speaking in a postured, ÃÅ"bermenschean manner, Derrida claimed that his 'new' aporetic philosophy of diffà ©rance would help bring about the clà ´ture of the Western legacy of logocentrism and phallogocentrism. Although in recent writings he appears to have settled into a more pietistic attitude towards the traditionally Judeo-Christian sense of the sacred and a stronger declamatory acknowledgment of his solidarity with the critical project of the Greek thinkers, many of his readers are still left with a sour taste in their mouths due to the denunciatory and self-ingratiating tone of his earlier writings. In this paper, I address these concerns, arguing that the earlier phallogocentric paradigm underlying Derrid a's critique of classical Greek philosophical paideia can be troped as a postmodern, Franco-Euro form of 'Occidentalism'-a 'metanarrative' very similar in intent to the Orientalism critiqued by Said. In Derrida’s earlier writings, it is indeed very difficult to untangle this Occidental metanarrative from the aporetic metaphysics of diffà ©rance. a. From Hellenocentrism to Phallogocentrism: In his highly influential Introduction to Paideia: the Ideals of Greek Culture (1933), Werner Jaeger discusses the ideals of Greek paideia in terms of their seminal influence on European culture, a culture which he forebodingly describes in the early thirties as "tired of civilization." Jaeger employs the term "hellenocentric" to describe the essential nature of the Greek influence on the development of modern European culture; his method of interpreting Greek culture rests on an attempt both to reanimate the waning classicism of nineteenth century philhellenism and to challenge the widespread, Nietzschean-inspired "war against the excessive rationalization of modern life," a war that also leads, claims Jaeger, to a carte blanche historiographical dismissal of Greek paideia as excessively rationalistic. In his attempt to reanimate and challenge nineteenth- and early twentieth-century figurings of Greek paideia, Jaeger argues that the "intellectual and spiritual nature" of Greek intel lectual life cannot be understood, as he felt it had been understood, "in vacuo, cut off from the society which produced it and to which it was addressed." In his Introduction to Paideia, Jaeger reconstructs the dynamic interplay in Greek paideia between the polis and the individual, between social responsibility and individual freedom, --in short, between the zw'/on politikon and the gnw'qi seautovn-- in the hope of restoring to European culture a greater appreciation of its hellenocentric origins.

Creative Intelligence †Mental Models Essay

Introduction Creative Intelligence is the ability of mind to devise innovative and smart solutions to the problems faced in routine life. It is a very essential component of successful intelligence as it determines the potential to go ahead of the given situations in order to produce creative and interesting ideas. Such a situation appears when an individual moves in a direction opposite to that of general opinion with a motive to develop efficient means to accomplish the task (Burt, 1931). The four styles of Creative Intelligence are: Intuitive, Innovative, Imaginative and Inspirational. The comparison of these styles and their influence on organizational decision making is as follows- Intuitive: According to the intuitive style, the basic concepts and insights of mind are responsible for developing innovative ideas and determining the decision to be taken. In such a style, facts and figures hold less importance and complexity of the situation is not annoying. In intuitive style, constant changes in the internal as well as the external environments of the organization are presumed, beforehand. This style has a major influence on the organization as decisions are largely taken on the basis of the basic understanding of the employees. Innovative: As per the innovative style of creative intelligence, the creative ability of the mind to develop remarkable solutions to the problems gains high prominence. Such style is usually characterized by out-of box thinking and unconventional point of views. Similar to the intuitive style, it does not focus a great deal on the data and statistics. As every organization desires novel and innovative ideas for its problems, thus, the innovative style plays a pivotal role in the decision-making process. Imaginative: In this style of creative intelligence, an individual devises  new and creative ideas entirely on the basis of his imagination capabilities. Such a style requires the situation to be perceived from a variety of perspectives and solved entirely on the basis of shear creative potential of the mind. It does not require many details related to the given circumstances. Such a style does influence the decision-making process of an organization by recommending inventive measures to resolve the problem. Inspirational: The inspirational style is a very unique form of creative intelligence. According to this style, novel ideas and solutions are developed by drawing inspiration from the actions taken in situations of similar nature. Such kind of motivation can also be derived from the figures acknowledged by the individual. In contrast to other styles, it realizes the importance of the details related to the situation. Also, the inspirational style, simplifies the process of decision-making in a positive manner by recommending tested and proven measures. Influence of Five forces on Mental Models- A mental model accounts for an individual’s thought process about how things work in the real world. As these models refer to a symbol or representation of outside facts, they are assumed to play a crucial role in decision-making (Sternberg, 1982). The five forces affect the mental models existing in an organization in a significant manner. As a result of these forces, the mental models adapt themselves to the changes in the internal and external environments (Mental Models, Metaphor and Design, 2008). How Mental Models might limit the decision-making process- As the mental models form preconceived responses to a given situation or a problem, they prevent the introduction of any new solutions to tackle the current issues (Robles-De-La-Torre G. & Sekuler, 2004). For illustration, the poor performance of an employee owing to certain inevitable measures would lead the HR Manager to take an incorrect decision about his future due to his set mental model. Similarly, an organization’s defensive mindset would prevent it from engaging in a risky yet profitable project (Increasing Intelligence, 2008). Commonly used Mental Models and their influence on the decision-making process at the workplace- At the workplace, a number of mental models are used by the individuals to take decisions in the given situation (Mental Models, 2008). On similar lines, my decision-making process at the workplace is guided by the structural and functional mental models. In order to take a decision in the given situation, I firstly employ the functional model as it helps to know the actual task to be performed in the given circumstances. Generally, this mental model serves as the fundamental basis for taking any kind of decision for the problem. However, in order to understand the factors leading to the problem, the structural model is used. This model assists in understanding the various components of the problems at the workplace and their relationships with each other. In fact, both the models influence my decision-making process to a great deal as they assume varying significance depending on the situation encountered at the workplace. At the same time, they help in the process of taking appropriate decisions as per the requirement of the given situation. References Burt, C. 1931. _The Differentiation Of Intellectual Ability_. The British Journal of Educational Psychology. Robles-De-La-Torre G. & Sekuler R.. 2004. _Numerically Estimating Internal Models of Dynamic Virtual Objects_. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception. Sternberg, R.J. 1982. _Handbook of human intelligence_. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Increasing Intelligence. (2008). Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/reingold/courses/intelligence/cache/sternberg_intelligence.html Mental Models. (2008). Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www.cs.umu.se/kurser/TDBC12/HT99/Laird.html Mental Models, Metaphor and Design. (2008). Retrieved April 17, 2008, from http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/articles/mmmad.pdf

White Mans Muscles Essay - 904 Words

The White Mans Muscles In todays society, the naked white male body is found everywhere. It can be seen in print ads, including clothing catalogues, TV commercials, and especially in movies, yet the prevalence of the naked white male body is something that has only been embraced since the 1980s. Prior to the 1980s, half naked white males were hardly ever seen in popular film because of the negative effects it would have on male self-esteem and masculinity. People in our generation remember watching films such as Rocky, Rambo, and The Terminator, which showed incredibly built and tan white males in some type of extreme action role. However, people would be hard pressed to find a film in which a half naked white male was†¦show more content†¦The obvious differences between these men and other men off the street plays into the ideals of masculinity. Only toned bodies, bodies that simulate the ideals of perfection can truly avoid any of the horrors that are associated with coming into contact with femininity and non-whiteness. Men like to see these toned men as opposed to regular guys because they do not need to fear their shortcomings. Only few people can live up to the idea of the perfect man and so seeing them on film is a form of escapism. If real men were depicted, all of their fears associated with being normal would be realized. The use of bodybuilders in film instead of standard males was a mask to cover up the inadequacies of white men. Using these perfect beings has negative effects even today but it is constantly being reinforced in our society. The ideal of the perfect man being as muscular as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone has fallen by the wayside however a new ideal of perfection has risen to take its place. White males are now commonly seen shirtless in films and in some instances completely naked. 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