Lunchtime Links: "Bankers are like lepers and bird flu sufferers;" and 40 new jobs at Otkritie

Following new calls for banks to regulate their own pay, and new threats that the UK government is considering a permanent tax on banks' pay and profits, defenders of the industry have been speaking out.

Angela Knight of the British Bankers Association appeared on the Today Programme claiming that bankers are being unfairly treated like lepers and bird flu sufferers, prompting the presenter to question whether this wasn't, "understandable."

And RBS chief executive Stephen Hester has penned a column for The Times suggesting that investment banks need to broadcast what they to do help UK farmers hedge against the euro, help the UK government manage its deficit, and help UK homeowners 'access the savings of the whole world' to buy a house.

Separately, someone is still hiring for the front office. Bloomberg reports that Otkritie, the broker 20% owned by Russian state lender VTB, wants another 40 people (having already hired 50 this year_. Many of them are likely to be wanted in New York and Hong Kong, where new sales offices are being opened. But Otkritie's brokerage business is headquartered in London, so hires may happen in the City as well.

Hedge fund manager thinks banks pay their traders way too much. (BusinessInsider)

RBC has hired four people for FIG, including one from RBS. (Yahoo)

Nick Trigg, FIG MD at Macquarie, has left. (Financial News)

Anglo Irish chief exec is now bankrupt. (Guardian)

Goldman wants more time to respond to the SEC lawsuit. (NY Post)

Welcome to financial warfare in the post-globalization period. (Zero Hedge)

Intelligent people stay up late. (Psychology Today)