Let Them Fail

In fact, why don't we campaign to have them shut down?

In almost any other industry malpractice of this magnitude would be severely punished so why is banking given a second, or third, or twenty-seventh chance?

Greed is good, right? Gordon Gecko told us that in the eighties. It seems that several financial icons took that to mean "Do whatever thou must, but make sure thee reports a profit".

And so they did.

Standard Chartered is the latest to show us how low banking has sunk. See the full story here

HSBC laundered drug money and all manner of low-end nastiness flowed through their books. See that story here

And then there was good old Barclays and that LIBOR rigging. Here's the latest on that story

Three huge names in the banking world and they are no better than common thieves. I know that many of us were aware that banks are not the good guys. They haven't been our pals for decades. They exist only to make money, but some of us thought that they were trustworthy, deserving of some respect, but that image is forever tarnished. We may as well go back to cash. Who knows what they did with our money? Actually, scratch that. For years I have been saying that once your money is in your account at their bank, ownership is transferred. The money is no longer yours. It belongs to them. If you don't believe that, pop down to your local branch and ask them for all of (what you believe is) your money. If you have more than their daily withdrawal limit in your account you are going to leave disappointed.

I know why they do it. There are three reasons: growth, growth, and growth. But the growth needs to be sustainable. It needs to be logical, and, in an ideal world, it needs to be lawful. It seems to me that these three banks forgot completely ignored those basic rules. They will be fined but the shameful thing is that a) the fines will amount to whatever is in the petty-cash tin at the time and b) those fines will be recovered in the fullness of time. Brace yourselves: these monies will be clawed back from YOU. Suddenly, banking regulators (never fear that they are all in this together) will announce that the era of "free" banking is over. Charges will start to appear on your statement and if you tally them up, they will magically be enough to pay their fines with possibly a bit left over to chuck into the bonus pot.

Greed is good. Wars, for that matter, are even gooder. Have a look at this graphic, and when you understand it, stop wondering why we are always at war with Eastasia:

Blowing people to bits is lucrative business.










We live in a nasty world. Those we trusted have become the untrustworthy. Those that once traded with honour have become dishonourable. Those who were meant to remain unblemished have become forever stained.

But will they be shut down? Nope.

Will anyone go to gaol? Absolutely not.

This is crime at the most senior levels of the banking industry but just watch: these clowns will slink out of the back door with millions in severance pay. And within days or weeks, they will turn up at other banks as directors and senior officers. The banks themselves will get over this latest "blip" and carry on forever.

Why?

Because we will continue to use them. It's too much trouble to find a decent bank (if such a thing exists) and by continuing to patronise them, nothing will change.

We are our own worst enemy.

CR.