With Christmas just around the corner it is time to divide the world into those who have been naughty and those who have been nice. For years, bankers have tended to be thought of as prime candidates for the former category, but as the recession recedes should Santa change his view?
Speaking at the first ever Open Forum in London today, the Bank of England's governor Mark Carney said that public faith in financial markets had been shaken by "widespread misconduct". However, he said opinion is beginning to turn and indicated efforts among regulators to hold wrongdoers to account would continue.
Speaking to Sky News, Carney said that while "bankers are starting to be seen as part of solution, rather than the problem", individual bankers should be held to account. Carney added that he would "root out" any remaining "bad apples" in the banking sector.
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Carney also explained that banks should be allowed to go bust like any other business and that new rules on loss-absorbing capital meant financial institutions are no longer 'too big to fail'. "The era of 'heads I win, tails you lose' capitalism is drawing to a close," he said.
Also speaking at London's Guildhall, chancellor George Osborne said that it is "perfectly understandable" that the public is still angry about the banking crisis. Like Carney, he also spoke of the need for better regulation of bankers.
"If you shoplift at the local WH Smiths you go to prison, but if you're the market trader and you rip off people to the tune of millions of pounds, there are no criminal offences available to deal with you," he said.
Osborne added that it was still "a bit optimistic" for bankers to want to move on from the crisis and that it is up to the regulators and politicians to "prove to the public that things have really changed".
