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Top bankers defended their bonuses today ahead of an onslaught of regulation controlling their pay.
“The war for talent is in full swing,” said Deutsche bank chief executive Josef Ackermann. “The question of whether we have learned something focuses too much on the question of bonuses and leaves out other aspects.” And Morgan Stanley co-president Wild Chammah declared: “We're against absolute caps on compensation levels.”
However, HSBC's chairman Stephen Green today warned bankers that they must behave in a more socially acceptable manner, not pay themselves massive bonuses and look beyond short-termism if they want to regain the public's trust.
“The public views our industry, understandably, even if somewhat simplistically, as architects of the worst synchronised economic downturn since the Great Depression,” he said.
Green, a committed Christian, told a meeting of bankers in Germany: “The rapid return of remuneration and bonuses for bankers that are many times the compensation for the average worker is, quite understandably, further fuelling public anger.”
He said that in recent years banks had chased short-term profits by introducing “complex products of no real use to humanity”. He warned: “The financial industry will need to learn the lessons of a crisis that has shocked and frightened the world.”
Green said that now was an opportunity “not only to refine the rules, but to review the values of the market system to ensure they better serve social and economic development and to re-establish our industry as a major contributor to human prosperity and development.”
Reader views (2)
It is totally ironic that the highest margins earned by banks are on plain vanilla everyday products! They give you a few % on your savings but lend at up to 30% APR!! This pious talk from certain high street banks taking potshots at the investment banks really shows that the public have little understanding of the financial system at all. The rip off continues. Why is the spread on retail FX at least 10% ? Look at a Bloomberg screen and the spread is less than 0.1% ... amargin of 9.99% goes straight to your friendly high street bank, cha ching cha ching!!
- James Macleod Ritchie, Oyster Bay Cove, 08/09/2009 14:12
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Do they get bonused for ripping the general public off. A few years ago I opened a regular savings account to save for unexpected bills. At the start of this year I found the total annual interest (including bonus) had dropped to 1%. I therefore moved the money to another account paying 2.5%. Seven months later it is paying 0.1% as they have launched yet another new product! It is about time this practice was outlawed. How about giving the bonus to the investors?
- Michael, London, 08/09/2009 13:07
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