However, it is the lubricious Josephine who was chosen to dance at Papa Joffre's combination boxing-match-vaudeville-show-and-save-the-franc-fund-deluxe just given at the Champs Elysees.
Mr Batstone said the carry trade - where investors borrow low-yielding currencies such as the yen or Swiss franc to fund purchases of higher return assets in other currencies - looks under threat as the yen recovers its poise on the foreign exchanges.
The government is supporting the expansion of the country's recycling facilities — most of them run by small to medium enterprises — through a taxpayer-funded Business Development Fund. Valued at a total of 8.4 billion francs, the fund allows SMEs of all types — which may not have sufficient collateral to take out large-scale loans — to invest, consolidate and grow.
The most immediate crisis appears to be in Eastern Europe, where investors borrowed exuberantly in foreign currencies — notably the euro and the Swiss franc — using those funds to build office towers and factories.
German football has been drawn into the ever widening Fifa corruption crisis after it was alleged that the former Adidas chief executive Robert Louisetreyfup set up a 10.3m Swiss francs (€6.7m) slush fund to buy votes and secure the right to stage the 2006 World Cup.
NEW YORK TIMES Hedge Funds Adapt to Swiss Franc Fortunes | Hedge funds are eschewing the fixed-income bets that turned a profit this summer in favor of short bets on the Swiss franc, following Switzerland's decision to cap the currency.
REUTERS Funds Look to Upset Swiss Franc Cap | Hedge Funds are set to rally together to bet against the Swiss National Bank, after its surprise move to introduce a ceiling to cap the nation's surging currency caught investors by surprise.
Six top managers invested 3.8 million francs ($2.6 million) in the fund in 2000 and saw it grow to 11.5 million francs ($7.9 million) in less than two years.
Zurich-based Swiss Life has replaced senior executives and pledged to restore investor confidence after six managers, including a former chief executive, Roland Chlapowski, acknowledged reaping 12 million Swiss francs ($8.1 million) from the fund the company ran for executives' private investments.
The IFRC, which is the international organization connecting domestic Red Cross societies, has also put out an appeal for 33.4 million Swiss francs ($35 million) in funding for quake victims.
A year later, the mechanism was blown apart after the French franc was driven down by hedge funds betting on its devaluation.
