Lex: Investment banks

Most of the Davosian rearguard action this week against Barack Obama's proposals to cut banks down has been waged out of the media spotlight. Bob Diamond, president of Barclays and head of the UK bank's investment bank Barclays Capital, was one of the few bankers brave enough to speak out. From the Swiss Alps, he argued Obama's proposals would do nothing to make the world a safer place. The numbers suggest otherwise. John Paul Rathbone anayses how investment banks work.