Friday, October 26, 2012

Financial Co-Dependency: How Wall Street Has Kept Shale Alive


Click here to access article by Deborah Rogers from EnergyPolicyForum via Energy Bulletin (more readable).

Using the shale gas industry as an example, the author sheds light on a new kind of relationship that has evolved between investment bankers and industry.
Investment banking has changed over the past few decades. There was a time when a bank was there to provide services to its clients in a partnership type relationship. Then a subtle shift occurred and investment bankers realized that fees could be maximized by employing a different mindset. In short, it no longer mattered whether the client was succeeding because the banks could make money on the way up or on the way down with a “client”. I use this term loosely for a reason.
This, of course, was first dramatized by revelations in Congressional hearings which revealed that Goldman Sachs place bets against their own clients.