I thought it was interesting to see some of the top executives of two of the failed banks in Britain "apologising" for the harm their decisions had caused so many people. RBS - The Royal Bank of Scotland was founded in 1727, and HBOS, which was a merger between Halifax and The Bank of Scotland, in 1695, (the "BOS" bit). It ties in with the similiar debacle which occurred at banks in the United States, and which were highlighted by Soodie in her blog.
In a related story one man who questioned the approach HBOS was adopting four years ago, was sacked as a result of his remarks. Read Paul Moore's story here. In my own experience as a banker, I learned very early on the fundamental principle that you should never lend money to anybody you were not sure of getting it back from. I left the world of financial services more than ten years ago because I believed this principle was being compromised, and my superiors questioned my loyalty to the bank's product development, which I felt was far too risky.
I suppose I felt rather out of step with the times, but I never regretted switching to a life long passion in artistic creativity. I wonder where those bankers are now.
Well, actually, no I don't.
By contrast, I listened to the new US Treasury Timothy Geithner speaking yesterday, and was depressed that verbosity is still something that appears to have its place in politics. Words and no substance: "we plan to do this, we plan to do that". How fascinating, when "planning to do this and that" amounts to "we plan to stop bad banking practices". I suppose it's a good start, but I would have hoped for something a bit more substantive by now.
Like a house of cards, markets need confidence. And confidence comes from trust, which comes from something sensible, believable...and being done.
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