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Tony Jackson

Tony Jackson studied classics at Glasgow University and Oxford, then trained as a securities analyst at the Edinburgh broking firm of Wood, Mackenzie.

He moved to the Financial Times in 1983, where his posts have included head of the Lex Column and New York bureau chief. He now works as a part-time columnist for the paper.

Aged 59, Tony is married to fellow FT journalist Maggie Urry. - -

Bank regulators should learn from health and safety

Regulatory reform of the world’s banks is becoming a painful thing to watch. The main object is disappearing under a mass of suffocating detail. Perhaps policymakers should turn for guidance to an unlikely source – health and safety

Addicts left in charge of fixing the system

It is by now apparent that we are in another asset bubble. The chief cause, is action by governments to repair the damage from last time round. Though the pattern has become familiar, it is chilling that this outbreak should come so soon after the biggest bubble in living memory

Take the lead on regulation to call the bankers’ bluff

Britain’s banks, the chairman of Barclays said recently, would be harmed if the UK imposed tough regulation not applied elsewhere. This is a deft application of the principle of divide and rule

Age-old problem of pensions and a shrinking workforce

In 25 years, the UK will have 2.8 people of working age to every one retired, versus 3.2 today. An old story, you might think. Except that the story keeps getting worse

Hired guns’ bonus expectations shoot industry in the foot

The bank bonus culture, so sumptuously on display last week at Goldman Sachs, remains under fire from politicians

Crystal ball stays hazy on bonds or equities question

For what it is worth, I have serious doubts about the recovery story. I find it hard to credit that a crisis of such momentous proportions could be followed so promptly by business as usual

Emerging markets story symptomatic of wider issue

Every now and then in the investment business, you come across a statement that brings you up short: a warning signal that a high-water mark has been reached

TBTFs are a malign growth that must be confronted

A couple of months ago, I aired a proposal for tackling banks judged too big to fail: an insurance fund, paid for by the banks, to compensate taxpayers who have rescued them

Maybe the banks are in worse trouble than we realise

I hate to say it, but we may just possibly have it wrong about the banks. Received wisdom says they are reverting to their bad old ways, and that punitive measures are called for – the first and most concrete being higher capital requirements.

The delicate game of target valuations

In today’s less febrile conditions, we must return to basics. In particular, consider two concepts that are sometimes confused – the control premium and synergy

Equities surge raises questions on reliability of bounce

Individual rationality can mean collective irrationality

Comeback beckons for the conglomerate

Aim to contain boom and bust, not just to prevent it

A bank-weary taxpayer’s pipe-dream

Fundraising looks increasingly desperate

CDS market has to climb evolutionary ladder

Private equity set to become a weapon of mass destruction

Buffett and other blows to efficient market theory

Optimistic sums risk BA landing in a pensions hole