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Abused at dinner parties and in pubs, bankers say: We’re worth every penny
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor21 Oct 2009
The vast majority of City bankers say they are more than happy to bank the bonus cheque and hope that the wave of public anger blows over.
One financier contacted by the Standard was typical in his reaction when he laughed at the suggestion that he might change his lifestyle. He said: "It hasn't made any difference and I don't see why it should have.
"My firm has not had any taxpayers' money. We've got a simple business which has been profitable throughout.I don't resent the money the very high-ups are getting. It just makes me wish I was at their level. They have been successful. It is right that they should be rewarded for that."
Almost all the bankers and traders who spoke to the Standard said that although they were aware of the public mood, which sometimes even boiled over into physical assault, they were happy to adopt the attitude of Millwall fans: "Nobody likes us but we don't care."
One of the City's most senior grandees said: "I'm a banker, it's what I do. If you want somebody to do moral stuff, go somewhere else. First and foremost, I work for a bank, not a charity. We will always behave like a bank and we are never going to be anything else."
Although the wilder excesses of conspicuous consumption seen before the credit crunch have been reined in, few bankers said they planned to make fundamental changes to the way they live.
One said: "I didn't contribute to the crisis so why should I be punished? Most people who know anything about banking know that the problems were caused by a small number of traders, usually in the US. I mix in intelligent circles where there is no hysterical over-reaction."
However, many conceded that public contempt towards their profession was unavoidable and now came with the job. One chief executive told how when he was recently at a West End play and said he ran a bank, another member of the audience walked up to him and made the sign of the cross as if he was a vampire.
Others said they tended to mix socially more with other City workers on the "safety in numbers" principle. He said: "I'm fed up with getting grief at social functions about being a banker. I've now slapped an outright ban on going to dinner parties unless I know there will be other bankers present. It feels very uncomfortable being in my career these days."
One senior economist at an investment bank said he had noticed a marked change in attitude towards City workers. He said: "You do awaken hostility in some people when you tell them you work for an investment bank. I've even had somebody taking a swing at me in a pub, but more often it's more of a sneering 'Oh, you work in a bank, you've been bleeding the economy dry for the past 10 years'.
"I suppose in some cases you could respond: 'Well, you've worked in the public sector, isn't that what you have been doing too?' But you don't really want to inflame the situation. It's only a minority of people who take such a dim view.
"Most people, if you're at a dinner party or whatever, are just interested in what it's like in the City at the moment. They want to know whether I think we'll come out of the recession. I'm not pleading poverty, but as for me and my friends in the City, most of us have had pretty reduced bonuses for the past two years. It's not been like 'how many Maseratis shall we buy this year?' by any means."
There is also frustration that the good works that many bankers get involved in is being ignored in the general condemnation of City pay.
One very senior investment banker said: "I do give a lot to charity. People ask me why I don't publicise it, to get the fact out there that bankers do put something positive into society. But it isn't worth the grief.
"If I say I give £1million to charity, people will just round on me and say: 'why didn't you give £10 million?' I'm best off keeping my head down." There are growing concerns about physical safety, particularly at the highest levels of the industry.
One senior banker said: "I'm really concerned about security these days. I'm very careful about who I give my address to. You could say it's paranoia but I just don't want to risk getting grief for what I do, or getting attacked."
But lower down the City "food chain" most just want to collect their bonuses and carry on enjoying the extraordinary rewards that come with their jobs.
A trader at a leading City stockbroker said: "I understand the anger, but I don't see what it has got to do with me. I didn't do anything wrong. I have worked harder this year than ever before, so if this year's bonus isn't at least as big as last year's I will want to know why. We don't work in the City for charity, we do it for money."
Reader views (3)
D Dare - yet another number of the public talking about another subject he is not qualified to. Last time I looked both my salary and bonus were treated as PAYE and above a certain threshold the bonus is paid in stock in the bank which vest in equal amounts over a three year period and obviously taxed accordingly. Clearly I am continually exposed to the future earnings of the bank. Some other guy blows the place up and I lose money. Lots of it.
I pay a huge amount of tax, I did not cause the credit crisis and the strategies I run with vast amounts of client money made huge profits for clients over the past 2 years becuase I was smart enough to devise systems that saw the crisis coming. Some of these clients will be the pension funds that you will rely on in the future.
I'm sorry, but if anything I'm underpaid given the hours I do and the revenue I generate. If you don't like it and think it is just 'gambling at the casino' apply for a job. We're always looking for the smartest and best educated people we can get. Be warned though, you'll get no free lunches here.
- Investment Banker, London, 21/10/2009 14:03
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"We don't work in the City for charity, we do it for money."
Well Mr banker, you are a charity case now, bailed out by the rest of us. Keeping you in a socially useless job rather than on the dole is one thing, allowing our money to pay you a bonus for simply doing your job is not part of the bargain.
If you don't like it, please leave, maybe go the Cayman Islands, and don't come back. You will not be missed.
- Rob, London, UK, 21/10/2009 13:04
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The other thing that annoys the Public about Bankers is that they point out the amount of Tax they pay without also admitting that they go to incredible lengths to avoid paying Tax. All Bank salaries and bonuses should be treated as PAYE and not be allowed to avoid millions by using loopholes.
- D Dare, Kenton England, 21/10/2009 10:23
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