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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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  • Monday, 7 June, 2021
    Inside BusinessCentral banks
    Central banks’ action on climate change raises mission creep concerns

    A focus on the transition to net zero could distract them from their core objectives

  • Tuesday, 25 May, 2021
    The Big Read
    The demise of the dollar? Reserve currencies in the era of ‘going big’

    The extraordinary stimulus measures in the US could undermine confidence in the greenback if inflation takes off

  • Monday, 10 May, 2021
    ReviewBusiness books
    An exploration of the challenges facing today’s boards

    While Dambisa Moyo’s insider account spills few beans, it provides thoughtful analysis and reform proposals

  • 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

  • Promoted Content
  • 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

  • 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

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