The Collapse of Barings Bank and Lehman Brothers Holdings INC: An Abridged Version

Bank crisis can mostly be traced to a decrease in the value of bank assets. Banks are vulnerable to a number of risks. This happens in one or a combination of the following incidences; when loans turn bad and cease to perform (credit risk), when there are excess withdrawals over available funds (liquidity risk) and rising interest rates (interest rate risk). Bad credit management, market inefficiencies and operational risk, among a host others can trigger panic withdrawals by depositors with a sense of insecurity emanating from the fear of loss of investment. In fact, the failure of Barings Bank and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc was attributable to varied factors spanning from non-monitoring of employee activities, management’s involvement in dubious accounting practices, unethical business practices by management, over indulging in risky and unsecured derivative trade. To guide against similar bank collapse in the near future, there should be an enhanced communication among international regulators and authorities that exercise oversight responsibilities on the security market. National bankruptcy laws should be invoked to forestall liquidity crisis so as to prevent freezing of margins and positions of solvent customers.

Using radar polarimetry to monitor changes in backscattering mechanisms in landslide zones for the case study of the Bureya river bank collapse

The possibilities of radar polarimetry methods for identification of landslide zones are analyzed here. The fact of transformation of the dominant scattering type by the reflecting surface was used as a key feature of the landslide zone. ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 polarimetric data were processed using the Freeman–Durden and Cloude–Pottier decompositions for the four test sites selected in the area of a landslide caused by the Bureya river bank collapse. The decomposition results are consistent with each other in general, however, some areas show significant differences due to the specifics of the basic model provisions. It is shown that before the landslide event on the landslide area there were three main mechanisms of radar signal scattering: surface, volume, and double scattering. After the collapse, this area is characterized by a single scattering from the surface with large-scale irregularities and without vegetation. So, the landslide area can be confidently recognized. The considerable potential of using the radar polarimetry method for remote diagnostics of the effects of landslide phenomena has been demonstrated.