The more I'm amazed by the layers of rank incompetence...
And I'm the guy who sez, "You'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of bankers!" (no offense to any of my banker friends, but...)
The sad thing is that it's not just the incompetence of the bank management and especially their investment officer, the regulators were totally asleep at the switch.
And the laziness and stupidity of the depositors is what really gets me. Who in the Hell just puts massive sums in a bank with just $250k of insurance?!?!? I have to think that all those businesses with deposits there hired CFO's with degrees in gender studies but no actual understanding of finances.
There's a reason why there are custodial banks. And brokerage firms with better, safer cash management options with more insurance. You can wire money in a trice, too, so there's no reason to keep excessive sums in any given bank.
I just have to shake my head.
And then I imagine all the old white men who were passed over for positions as CFO's and Investment Officers (and the like) who had 25-30 years of experience and who had been through multiple business cycles and crises, who would have avoided all these rookie mistakes...
Then I shake my head again.