The Bank Robber and the Psychologist

The Italian Job may go down as one of the better known heist and bank robbery movies, but for the purpose of our article, “The Panama Job"....or better still, “The Bank Robber” may be somewhat more appropriate as we begin this week’s edition of “What We Are Reading” with Victor Golovtchenko’s favourite story of the week.

The Bank Robber

Anyone who is curious about how wealthy individuals have been dodging taxes and where the Mossack Fonseca story started

should pour themselves a cup of tea, sit down, relax and read through New Yorker’s vast story on the matter that is worthy of a motion picture titled “The Bank Robber”.

The leak caused by HSBC’s employee Herve Falciani has been dwarfed by the Panama paper, but he was the one who might have inspired a whole movement with the internet even pronouncing him dead because of what he helped expose. The New Yorker’s Patrick Radden Keefe brings us the complete story, full of twists and turns.

Even if your preference is for a mind-stirring, psychological thriller, we’re sure you’ll agree that was worth the read!

On the subject of psychology, that takes us onto Sylwester Majewski’s favourite read of the week.

Intuition: It’s More than a Feeling

A few days ago I stumbled upon an article on human intuition. It confirms what I have felt was true for a long time. It was just this ‘gut feeling’ I had. As it occurs, intuition actually can be measured, which not only confirms it exists, but opens a whole new

area of study.

Psychological scientists Galang Lufityanto, Chris Donkin, and Joel Pearson recently published their findings in the journal of Psychological Science in April. They designed an experiment in which participants were exposed to emotional images outside of their conscious awareness. It was discovered that even when people were unaware of the images, they were still able to use information from the images to make more confident and accurate decisions.

What is interesting for me is that it adds another angle to an ongoing debate which exists in the trading environment. Debate on whether discretionary trading really works. Fans of automated and quantitative trading methods rather doubt it. Their arguments are louder these days as this form of trading has also become a great marketing flywheel for the brokerage industry. However those who do trade on their own have always had different beliefs.

Finally, editor Steven Hatzakis tells us about an article that caught his eye this week.

The Korean Startup Scene

An article that I came across this week was from HiveArena founder Jongjin Choi after the original version of the article was

translated into English and posted by Jobbatical on Medium.com. It concerns the startup scene in a country that boasts the fastest internet speeds in the world - South Korea.

The seven minute read highlighted how it’s not just perks and monetary rewards that are needed to foster globalized synergies and innovation to make Korea an attractive financial hub, as there are more places in Asia that are culturally diverse and cheaper to operate in.

A need for more friendly visa programs for foreigners looking to do business in the country was also pinpointed by the author, so visitors could setup corporations.

The article also implied that changes must be made, if places like Japan and Korea - which are more expensive for firms to operate in Asia - are to compete with other ASEAN countries, in terms of attracting startups including Fintech firms.

On behalf of the contributing editors at Finance Magnates, we hope you found these reading suggestions interesting and read-worthy. Feel free to share your views in the comment section and any recommendations of your own.

Check out our previous posts here:

Fly Me To The Moon....And Bremain In The EU

Brexit: Ice-Cream Magic Or An Artistic Defeat

Virtual Reality and the Dark Side of Shaming

Insider Trading and the Dude Driving Istanbul Mad

On Valley Life and Opening Up AI