financial system family...

I was midway tengah nak menyuap nasi ke dalam mulut during dinner when Abg posed the question... "Along, ekonomi teruk ke?"

Huh? Takde angin takde apa... tiba2 terus pop question like that. Tau la I work where I work... tapi annual report tak keluar lagi. Did I miss something? "Why Abg tanya?" I asked back. Papa and Ina were also at the table... all looked at me as if I know the answer (which I don't, hehe...)

So he told me the statement made by a certain ex-staff who is now a very important person at the Ministry (of Magic, hehe... no lah), and how it's due to the *recession* in the US. So I slowly gave them a run through about (what I know) the sub-prime problem, things that caused it, the impact on the US financial market and how it affects a tiny trading nation like Malaysia, the implications on the economy, how we're all part of this big wide web of network and because the US is the world's largest economy, our main export market etc etc.

I then explained what the impact would be on Abg's organisation which deals with those who does business with the US... what the repercussion could possibly be on his firm's clients. Laughing I told them that all of us at the table understands what I just explained but if Amt was there, he'll go "Huh?" being the sole engineer in the family. OK laa.. Mama pun engineer... domestic engineer ;)

That was when it struck me... here at the table, we have all the components of the financial system (the major ones lah). In the form of where we work or used to work. It's full circle... Papa started his career in a development financial institution (DFI) then moved to a merchant bank followed by a finance company before ending his career in a commercial bank. Ina is in a composite insurance company. Abang is with a DFI. And moi... am with the supreme body that oversees them all. Semua kena kow-tow to me... haha!!

It was never by design... tapi somehow all of us siblings (except Amt of course) ended up following the same career path as our dad. For me, it was because I won a scholarship with them... have to serve bond and have been there ever since. Ina and Abg I did not expect at all. Ina is doing well where she is and Abg seemed to have embraced his job of 4 months.

The thought just crossed my mind... the four of us, sitting down talking about the financial system and financial market *shudder*... how boring! Nasib baik to date that has not happened although I've had such conversations with Papa in the past. You know what they say... kalau the patriarch is a lawyer, anak pun lawyer. Same with doctors... and teachers (my mom's family is a good example... by atok was ustaz, my mom, 3 uncles, 2 aunties and several cousins are teachers). I guess it rubs off... the parents' vocation.

My friends at the organisation who read this will surely go... aiyoo, satu family ka? :)
What to do... dah rezeki kat situ. So now if we want to build a financial conglomerate, the pieces are all there... except for the most important item...

$$$