Former Wall Street computer whizz Michael Osinski made the 'bomb' that broke the banks

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Michael Osinski, a former Wall Street computer programmer whose fancy software helped bring the banks to near collapse, says he is dismayed at the financial whirlwind.


By Philip Sherwell in New York
05 Apr 2009


As world leaders in London put the finishing touches to their G20 communiqué, Michael Osinski was up to his thighs in water on the other side of the Atlantic, retrieving oyster cages at low tide off a misty Long Island.

Nowadays, he supplies oysters to some of the best restaurants in Manhattan. But he was following the efforts to reach agreement on tackling the global economic crisis with a deep personal interest.

For in his previous incarnation, Mr Osinski played a crucial, if inadvertent, role in stirring up the financial whirlwind that has battered the world. As the top computer programmer for the titans of Wall St, he wrote the complex software that bundled home mortgages into bonds, making possible the subprime loans collapse that sparked the global meltdown.

"I didn't realise I was building a bomb at the time," said Mr Osinski, 55, as he reflected on his part in the worst slump since the Great Depression. "I thought I was building something that was a valuable tool for the industry. And for many years, it was." But, he added wistfully, "the software turned out to be more sophisticated than the people using it".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5106510/Former-Wall-Street-computer-whizz-Michael-Osinski-admits-his-work-broke-the-banks.html

So much for 'May the world be your oyster"...