The CFO – A Moral Rudder In The Perfect Storm

In the wake of the stresses on the financial markets following the Bear Stearns debacle, the subprime meltdown, the ongoing credit crunch and the rapidly changing regulatory landscape, financial services organizations in the United States and abroad are being severely tested. These events, coupled with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the intervention by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department in rescuing AIG and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the sale of Merrill Lynch and Wachovia have been referred to by some as “the perfect storm.” And they have raised troubling questions regarding some long-held tenets in economics, finance and deregulation.