Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footer

Cookies on FT Sites

We use cookies for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to analyse how our Sites are used.

Accept & continue
Manage cookies
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Open side navigation menuOpen search bar
Financial Times
myFT
  • Home
  • World
    Sections
    • World Home
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • Americas
    • Middle East and North Africa
    Most Read
    • US and China pledge joint action on climate change despite strained ties
    • Half of UK thinks Scotland should be allowed second independence referendum
    • Sinn Féin leader apologises for Mountbatten assassination
    • Global savers’ $5.4tn stockpile offers hope for post-Covid spending
    • Dispute over Trump tax change threatens infrastructure bill
  • US
    Sections
    • US Home
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
    Most Read
    • US and China pledge joint action on climate change despite strained ties
    • Dispute over Trump tax change threatens infrastructure bill
    • Saudi and Iranian officials hold talks to patch up relations
    • The US infrastructure most in need of investment is human
    • The spread of the arbitrage economy
  • Companies
    Sections
    • Companies Home
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
    Most Read
    • Coinbase listing is a lament for some bitcoin believers
    • Breakaway dozen European football clubs sign up to Super League
    • HSBC top brass forced to hot desk as HQ scraps executive floor
    • UK pubs and restaurants warn of staff shortages
    • EG Group buys restaurant chain Leon for £100m
  • Tech
  • Markets
    Sections
    • Markets Home
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
    Most Read
    • The spread of the arbitrage economy
    • Will the European Central Bank do more to help eurozone economy?
    • EU split over delay to decision on classing gas as green investment
    • Loose monetary policy is today’s biggest market risk
    • Corporate Europe’s under-appreciated comeback
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    Sections
    • Opinion Home
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
    Most Read
    • Coinbase listing is a lament for some bitcoin believers
    • Get ready for the new politics of resentment in the office
    • The US infrastructure most in need of investment is human
    • House prices: urban exodus of upsizers shifts property demand
    • Off-road: Why aren’t young people driving?
  • Work & Careers
    Sections
    • Work & Careers Home
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
    Most Read
    • Get ready for the new politics of resentment in the office
    • Gaming inspires new worlds of virtual work
    • Ethiopia’s human rights chief: ‘It’s not an easy ride for us. We get a lot of heat ’
    • Lessons from the ‘risk business’
    • The cross-border pitfalls of ‘working from anywhere’
  • Life & Arts
    Sections
    • Life & Arts Home
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
    Most Read
    • Ground rules: the seeds to sow now for summer blooms
    • The vanishing billionaire: how Jack Ma fell foul of Xi Jinping
    • Whisky world at war as tech allows spirits to be ‘aged’ instantly
    • Off-road: Why aren’t young people driving?
    • Tom Jones — ‘Let’s get back to reality’
  • How to Spend It
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
MenuSearch
  • Home
  • World
  • US
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Markets
  • Climate
  • Opinion
  • Work & Careers
  • Life & Arts
  • How to Spend It
Financial Times
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe

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).

Email John Plender
Email John Plender

Add to myFT Digest

Add this topic to your myFT Digest for news straight to your inbox

  • Saturday, 17 April, 2021
    On Wall StreetFinancial & markets regulation
    The spread of the arbitrage economy

    Troubles rise as companies exploit the opaque gaps between regulations

  • Thursday, 15 April, 2021
    Capital markets
    Loose monetary policy is today’s biggest market risk

    Explosive growth in debt has severely curtailed central banks’ freedom of action

  • Sunday, 4 April, 2021
    Corporate governance
    Stakeholder capitalism must find ways to hold management to account

    The prevailing commitment to short-termist shareholder value has undermined corporate resilience

  • Sunday, 28 March, 2021
    Inside BusinessPensions
    Pension funds pay the price for bond market distortions

    Interest rate moves raise questions about how scheme liabilities should be calculated

  • Sunday, 7 March, 2021
    Inside BusinessFinancial services
    Greensill implosion exposes risks of shadow banking

    Revolutions in finance have a nasty way of ending badly, especially when they happen at breakneck speed

  • Monday, 1 February, 2021
    Markets InsightHedge funds
    GameStop is just latest sorry case of misallocated capital

    Price-insensitive investors are driving an increasing disconnect within economies and markets

  • Monday, 25 January, 2021
    ReviewCoronavirus economic impact
    A bracing collection of salvos on the ‘new Great Depression’

    An enjoyable, if unduly pessimistic, forecast on the post-pandemic economy

  • Friday, 8 January, 2021
    Investments
    Debt dangers hang over markets

    With assets fully priced, investors face trouble chasing returns while trying to limit risks

  • Monday, 4 January, 2021
    Inside BusinessFinancial & markets regulation
    Stress test looms for financial system in 2021

    Volatility rises as shadow banks become a bigger provider of liquidity to markets

  • Promoted Content
  • Monday, 14 December, 2020
    Inside BusinessWhite collar crime
    White collar crime and punishment is still out of kilter

    ING case highlights how few executives have been held to account for actions under their watch

  • Saturday, 28 November, 2020
    The Long ViewCapital markets
    Investors right to see through the gloom to economic upturn

    Equities might wobble on coronavirus news but recovery is coming

  • Wednesday, 4 November, 2020
    ReviewHistory books
    What the South Sea Company can teach us

    Two books explore historical financial frenzies and the lessons they hold for investors today

  • Monday, 2 November, 2020
    Markets InsightUS-China trade dispute
    Chinese economy outstrips US despite Beijing bashing

    China emerging as the engine of global growth amid the Covid pandemic 

  • Thursday, 3 September, 2020
    Markets InsightUS Treasury bonds
    Fed’s inflation shift is another blow to ‘safe’ assets

    The haven credentials of government bonds were already weakened by the Covid-19 crisis

  • Friday, 21 August, 2020
    Property sector
    Covid-crippled property markets ring the alarm for banks

    Real estate sector is a victim of the virus, debt and technological change

  • Monday, 17 August, 2020
    ReviewNon-Fiction
    Absent Management in Banking, by Christian Dinesen 

    A thoughtful analysis of how and why banks have failed through history

  • Monday, 10 August, 2020
    FTfmAsset allocation
    There are no easy answers in the low-return era

    Investments providing a good return today might not be replaced by equally attractive products tomorrow

  • Thursday, 30 July, 2020
    Central banks
    Controversy over seigniorage in Lebanon is a warning sign

    Unorthodox measures of central banks may be storing up trouble

  • Monday, 13 July, 2020
    ReviewBooks
    Capital Wars, by Michael Howell

    The fractious interdependence of China and the US

  • Tuesday, 30 June, 2020
    Markets InsightCapital markets
    What happens when asset prices are in the grip of central banks?

    Markets contemplate financial repression of the kind operated by the Fed around WW2

  • Tuesday, 16 June, 2020
    FTfmCalifornia Public Employees' Retirement System
    Calpers bets big on private equity and leverage

    Pension fund’s view is ‘too little liquidity can be deadly but too much is costly’

  • Sunday, 14 June, 2020
    California Public Employees' Retirement System
    Top US pension fund aims to juice returns via $80bn leverage plan

    Calpers hopes bold move will boost efforts to achieve its 7% return target

  • Friday, 22 May, 2020
    Global Economy
    Fears of Japanification spreading are misplaced

    The country’s quirks make similar deflation for the US and Europe a stretch

  • Friday, 8 May, 2020
    Markets InsightCentral banks
    Markets should beware this morally hazardous approach to policymaking

    Central banks repeatedly set the stage for the next boom and bust cycle, fuelled by growing debt

  • Wednesday, 29 April, 2020
    FTfmShare buybacks
    Wave of corporate defaults owes much to foolhardy share buybacks

    Big investors must adopt a tougher stance on balance sheet resilience

Previous You are on page 1 Next

Useful links

Support

View Site TipsHelp CentreContact UsAbout UsAccessibilitymyFT TourCareers

Legal & Privacy

Terms & ConditionsPrivacy PolicyCookiesCopyrightSlavery Statement & Policies

Services

FT LiveShare News Tips SecurelyIndividual SubscriptionsGroup SubscriptionsRepublishingContracts & Tenders
Executive Job SearchAdvertise with the FTFollow the FT on TwitterFT TransactSecondary Schools

Tools

PortfolioToday's Newspaper (ePaper)Alerts HubBusiness School Rankings
Enterprise ToolsNews feedNewslettersCurrency Converter
More from the FT Group
Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2021. FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.
Financial Times

International Edition

  • Switch to UK Edition
  • Top sections
  • Home
  • World
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • Americas
    • Middle East and North Africa
  • US
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
  • Companies
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
  • Tech
  • Markets
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
  • Work & Careers
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
  • Life & Arts
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
  • Personal Finance
    • Property & Mortgages
    • Investments
    • Pensions
    • Tax
    • Banking & Savings
    • Advice & Comment
    • Next Act
  • How to Spend It
  • Special Reports
  • FT recommends
  • Graphics
  • Lex
  • Alphaville
  • Lunch with the FT
  • FT Globetrotter
  • #techAsia
  • Moral Money
  • FTfm
  • Newsletters
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • News feed
  • myFT
  • Portfolio
  • Today's Newspaper (ePaper)
  • Crossword
  • Our Apps
  • Help Centre
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In