Risk management is not a job for compliance

Credit Suisse’s recent losses on its Archegos financing remind me of an announcement – nearly 10 years ago – from the repo desk of my then-employer, at our weekly sales meeting. The desk had proudly booked $3 million of profits on a long-dated, multi-billion-euro structured trade with the National Bank of Greece. When I enquired about the collateral, I learned it was composed of Greek government bonds. My heart sank.

This was only the beginning of the eurozone crisis, and many institutions