In framing policy responses to the ongoing economic and financial crisis, central bankers and governments have increasingly embraced more exotic forms of voodoo economics, such as Quantitative Easing. Fetishes, objects believed to have supernatural powers, are being wielded in a historic experiment to try to restore the health of the global economy. But success is not assured.

Governments have or are reaching the limits of fiscal policy, and are increasingly reliant on innovative monetary policy -primarily zero interest rates, central banks financing governments and aggressive purchases of risky assets. But the ability of policy makers to influence economic activity may be more limited than assumed.

This presentation explains the dynamics of these extraordinary economic times:
• Constraints on levels of government debt.
• The limits to expansion of central bank balance sheets and debt monetisation.
• Scope for further measures (such as charging to hold money).
• Toxic side effects of the policies being implemented for individuals, corporation and investors.
• Difficulty of exit from current policies.
• Risk of sovereign defaults or de facto debt restructurings.
• Who will be the last man standing – the differential positions of large economic powers, such as the US, versus that of smaller economies.

Investment success now relies on understanding these developments, their chances of success of policies and how they are likely to play out. It requires anticipation of the possible endgames.

This presentation explores how successful investors need to adjust behaviours to embrace the financial fetishes of governments and central bankers.

Satyajit Das is a former banker, with a global reputation in derivatives, risk management, and capital markets. In a career spanning over 30 years, he has worked on the “sell side” (Commonwealth Bank of Australia; CitiGroup; Merrill Lynch) and the “buy side” (TNT Group). He now acts as a consultant to banks, investors, corporation and regulators in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

Das presciently anticipated many aspects of the Global Financial Crisis in 2006, the sovereign debt crisis in 2010, the slowdowns in China and Australia and has continued to provide insightful commentary on the evolution of the crisis. 

He was featured in Charles Ferguson’s 2010 Oscar winning documentary Inside Job, the 2012 PBS Frontline series Money, Power & Wall Street  and a 2009 BBC TV documentary – Tricks with Risk. He is a frequent contributor and interviewee, being widely quoted in the financial press in the USA, Canada, UK/ Europe, South Africa, Australia, NZ and Asia.

He is the author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives – Revised Edition(2006 and 2010), an insider’s account of derivatives trading and the financial products business filled with black humour and satire. The book has been described by the Financial Times, London as " fascinating reading … explaining not only the high-minded theory behind the business and its various products but the sometimes sordid reality of the industry".

His latest book is Extreme Money: The Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk (2011) described by economist Nouriel Roubini as: “A true insider’s devastating analysis of the financial alchemy of the last 30 years and its destructive consequences.  With his intimate first-hand knowledge, Das takes a knife to global finance and financiers to reveal its inner workings without fear or favour.”

He is also the author of a number of key reference works on derivatives and risk management including Swaps/ Financial Derivatives Library – Third Edition(2005) (a 4 volume 4,200 page reference work for practitioners on derivatives) and Credit Derivatives, CDOs and Structured Credit Products –Third Edition (2005).