Investment banks typically group bonds, currencies, and commodities into one business segment: FICC (fixed-income, currencies, and commodities).  The three are inextricably linked in economic terms. For much of the nineteenth century and through World War I, most international commerce was conducted in British pounds, known as the global "reserve currency."  For most of the civilized world, the pound was an accepted as payment for goods and services.  In 1844, the Bank of England implemented a gold standard, by which Her Majesty's government upon request would redeem pound-sterling for a fixed weight of gold.  Eventually, though, the sun set on the British Empire, and the pound went away. Near the end of World War II, a delegation of forty-four nations met at the United Nations Monetary and Financial conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to hash out a new system, which would be based on the U.S. dollar.  While...(Read Full Article)