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Archbishops attack 'bank robbing' share traders
Ellen Widdup25.09.08
The bankers and traders responsible for the recent financial crisis came under fire today from both of England's Anglican archbishops.
Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams called for fresh scrutiny and regulation of the financial world, arguing that governments should not lose their nerve when deciding when to intervene.
Writing in The Spectator, he said: "It is no use pretending that the financial world can maintain indefinitely the degree of exemption from scrutiny and regulation that it has got used to."
Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, meanwhile, branded the traders who cashed in on falling share prices in troubled bank HBOS as "bank robbers" and "asset strippers".
In a wide-ranging and critical speech at the Worshipful Company of International Bankers' annual dinner, Dr Sentamu spoke of an "Alice in Wonderland" market, in which "the share value of a bank is no longer dependent on the strength of its performance but rather on the willingness of the Government to bail it out".
Sharp falls in the price of shares in banks have been blamed on short-selling by speculators hoping to drive the prices down further. A temporary ban was introduced on the practice by City watchdog the Financial Services Authority last week.
Dr Sentamu also spoke of the contrast between the bail-outs being given to beleaguered investment banks, and the lack of funding for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals being discussed in New York today. Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be among the world leaders meeting in the US to mark the halfway point in the 15-year project to reduce global poverty.
Reader views (8)
Chris, London, UK.- wrote: "If the bank bailouts don't get the nod, there will be no economy left to finance global poverty initiatives. Everyone will be poor." You poor gullible twit! It's a spiv's trick! The 'purchases', 'mergers' and now the 'bailout' are 'financed' with more pretend money 'backed' by real debts. They don't fix anything. They delay the problem while making it worse. There is only one solution and, as Adam Smith would have been the first to point out, nature is fast providing it anyway. Worthless money, no-value assets, debts so huge they become meaningless. The worst will be to let all that happen by itself and just wait for a chance to start again. To get a grip on the situation every country must nationalise everything without compensation, cancel all debts and impose an economic freeze while a new Bretton Woods Conference agrees a new international basis for the global economy and new -and enforceable- global rules for markets, currencies and business. Then and only gain can markets re-open and private property begin to function again. The sooner we all get used to this, our new reality, the better.
- Gerard Mulholland, Paris, France
But this is very much the Archbishops' business. They aren't the first christians to criticise the financial industry. St John's Gospel says in chapter 2, verses 14 and 15 that Jesus of Nazareth, «found in the temple ... the changers of money sitting: and when he had made a whip of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple ... and emptied the changers money bags and overthrew their tables ...» And wasn't it St Paul who wrote in his first epistle to Timothy (chapter 6, verse 7): "The love of money is the root of all evil"?
- Gerard Mulholland, Paris, France
Archbishops should concentrate on bothering God and leave the bankers alone.
- Casper Slides, Ibiza, Spain
The Archbishops should stick to what they know and only that. Everyone, including churches of various denominations, are more than happy to benefit substantially from the trickle effect when all goes well. Pity they should be so quick to jump on the bandwagon when things dont look so good.
- Daniel, London
Well, now we know for sure he went to the Alice in Wonderland School of Finance. Share prices move in response to purchases or sales, not positions. The hedge funds have had short positions in HBOS for months. So what happened? The long-only money got nervous and started selling. They move a lot more money than hedge funds when they get going.
And in the HBOS rights issue, the underwriting banks hedged themselves by... shorting HBOS in the run up to the rights issue. Normally that's OK. But in a jittery market a couple of big sellers can spook everyone else.
If the bank bailouts don't get the nod, there will be no economy left to finance global poverty initiatives. Everyone will be poor.
- Chris, London, UK.
This is laughable, coming from as rich and powerful an investor as the CoE.
- Mark, London, UK.
I wonder if money invested in funds by the church has benefited from shorting...
- Mcw, London, UK.
And what about the degree of exemption from scrutiny and regulation that the Church of England has gotten used to?
- Roman Iwaschkin, Zurich, Switzerland
