This was a great honor for me to have Mike Mayo on Pundit Review Radio. He is someone I have long admired for his tenacity, integrity and fearlessness. For the past two decades, he has been the top ranked banking and finance analyst on Wall Street. Fortune named him One of Eight Who Saw The Crisis Coming. He has developed a well-earned reputation as a truth seeker, someone who is uninterested in currying favor with the companies he covers. According to the LA Times review of his fantastic book Exile on Wall Street: One Analyst’s Fight to Save the Big Banks from Themselves
Stock analysts are not known for being a rebellious sort -– their jobs generally involve writing up dry technical reports on public companies. But Mike Mayo is not your typical stock analyst. Since joining the industry nearly 25 years ago, he has shaken up the financial world with his bold and forthright analysis of the banks he researches.
…He argues that regulators, accountants and credit ratings agencies do not have the right incentives to serve as good watchdogs. He slams his fellow stock analysts for providing misleadingly positive portrayals of public companies due to conflicts of interests.
This book is an absolute must read. It details the conflicts, crony capitalism and greed that helped bring us to the edge of chaos. Mike provides a look behind the curtain, how companies co-opt analysts, curry favor and manipulate their ratings. He tells of his experience on the Street, how he has struggled to do his job, simply because he has always been about getting at the truth about the companies he covers, good, bad or ugly.
At a time when there are so few people to admire in public life, especially as it relates to Wall Street, Mike Mayo is the exception. A man of great integrity, character and insight. I was deeply honored that he spent the full hour with us. This is one of my favorite interviews in six plus years of doing this show.
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On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.