The force of the knock across the financial sector over the past 12 months has exposed the weaknesses in the global financial tectonic plates. From New York to London to Hong Kong to Tokyo, the newly formed global network cracked under the strains of the economic quake as the ground shook. Some of the institutional pillars of the financial world shook. Iceland fell; Lehman Brothers and Bear Stern crumbled; Merrill Lynch saved itself by securing an all-stock buyout with Bank of America; Goldman Sachs found comfort in Birkshire Hatherway. The financial landscape remodeled itself nearly everyday as Hedge Fund executives observed through pink pages. (more…)