Well, that’s a FLA (Four-Letter-Acronym) that came in vogue some time last year to represent “Too Big To Fail”. It was used particularly in the context of the TARP (another FLA: “Troubled Assets Relief Programme) coming into play for AIG because it was deemed its failure will have a cascading effect on the rest of the American — and possibly world — economy.
Now we have TBTF standing for “Too Big To Fall” as well. This article from Bloomberg is an interesting read on how the punishments can be disproportionate to the magnitude of the wrongdoing.
Directors in listed companies should be held to higher standards as they are responsible not only for the welfare of their staff and the company, but they are supposed to consider the interests of investors. Let’s hope that SGX-listed companies clean up their acts as there have been more than a few dodgy directors exposed in the media lately…