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Should bankers repent?

The Archbishop of Canterbury - the UK's bastion of moral rectitude - has come forward and presented his two pence on the financial crisis. His conclusion? Bankers have failed to repent.

Banking executives' muttered apologies in front of an MP select committee last year looked less than convincing - more chastised schoolboy than penitent confession box - and the swift return to what looks like being excesses in bonus payouts has angered Dr Rowan Williams.

He said on the BBC's Newsnight: "There hasn't been a feeling of closure about what happened last year. There hasn't been what I would, as a Christian, call repentance. We haven't heard people saying 'well actually, no, we got it wrong and the whole fundamental principle on which we worked was unreal, empty'."

While it would be easy to slate his choice of words as religious tub-thumping from someone who doesn't understand the industry, he said society was "intimidated by expertise" and that there was room for "awkward amateurs" in examining how the City operates.

Does he have a point? Moving away from the religious connotations of the word 'repent', has the financial world actually learned anything from the crisis? Will it change the way it operates, or is it back to business as usual in double quick time? Is more self-reflection needed?

Your thoughts please...

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AUTHOReFinancialCareers UK Insider Comment
  • AA
    AAA
    17 September 2009

    What about
    - people who got easy mortgages and made money from real estate investments?
    - people without income, job, assets who contracted a loan?
    - investors who got AAA investments at Libor+15bp?
    - rating agencies who supported the bubble?

    I think that the Archbishop should remain in his area of competence, and try to avoid demagogy

  • Cl
    Clark Kent
    16 September 2009

    Rowan Williams is 100% right. It's not just the lack of an apology that's galling, it's the complete lack of a moral sense. The involvement of taxpayers means the wellbeing of entire nations is now at stake. Is it legitimate to game the situation in these circumstances? Only if you are a sociopathic moron with no moral compass and nothing to live for except a fat, pointless bank balance.

  • Ab
    A bad lad
    16 September 2009

    I have been flagellating myself thrice daily and wearing underwear made from a horse's mane for the past 12 months. I plan to prostrate myself in Canada Square sometime around midday tomorrow and sincerely hope this will be sufficient.

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