Apology from the bankers

The Chairman of HSBC, Mr Stephen Green, told the BBC that the financial industry "owes the real world an apology". This is a move in the right direction, but…

The current crisis resulted from a collapse (one could argue near-collapse) of a giant global pyramid scheme akin to Albanian gangsters' of 1996 – 1997 which drove the country into anarchy. Setting up and running pyramid schemes is a fraud, a crime. Therefore apology is simply too little.

The causes and mechanics of the current crisis require a proper legal investigation. The perpetrators of a pyramid that caused the current crisis must languish in jail (like some Albanian gangsters or Mr Madoff) and their wealth (including stashed offshore) must be confiscated. Governments (including the UK and US) must make their position clear in this respect. Incidentally HSBC appears to have been acting prudently all along with healthy Loan to Deposit ratio of 90% and seems to have been affected by other banks’ actions. Such investigation may be in HSBC own interest. But are they prepared to stand up to the rest of the industry?