Banks! Are You Surprised?

[s2rrr]

I've been banging on about these bankers with a "b" should be a "W" for years now. The investment side has been run by a bunch of cowboys for years and the way the traders operate is immoral and now likely to be proven illegal. So the way ahead is to prosecute (and make it stick) those who have fleeced us yet again. Then split the normal banking system into a properly regulated system whereby we the people actually get a proper deal, probably under the bank of England and leave the investment gamblers to make there own way. Complete separation is required as in previous debacles we have had to bail out the t*ssers from there own incompetence. I've just watched Question time and Tony "Baldrick" summed it up and we agree we have been yet again shafted by these gamblers in other peoples money. Soap box away for a bit. An open transparent system now must come about and lets hope it is sooner rather than later. How much have we all paid to line the fat pockets of the traders was it 6 billion in bonuses last year or something like, absolutely immoral and now illegal. A time in jail may focus the minds of the law breakers and a little worrying about soap in the prison showers will be poetic justice in my simplistic view.

Bob

[Norman Verona]

been giving Jeffs post more thought. Opec, the drug companies, motor manufactures all do things we may not like BUT they don't break the law. All business will charge the most it can weighing up loss of sales against price.

However, bankers have broken fraud law, They have also misrepresented "products" and sold them to people who didn't need them and/or couldn't afford them.

The mortgage sellers sold mortgages to people they knew couldn't repay but did they care as long as they got their commission.*

The ultimate blame must be with the governments who, firtsly deregulated the financial institutes and then continued to look the other way when they were warned.

*Car dealers get commission for selling finance. But that commission is clawed back if the customer fails to make the repayments. This doesn't seem to happen in the banking world, if it did maybe we wouldn't have misselling.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Motco, of course but isn't the cheating just to line their pockets not help the country. I know the banks pay a lot of tax but that doesn't mean they should cheat us.

Jeff, all of that is true. Doesn't make it right. I agree that it's unlikely rich men get rich by being 100% honest but it would seem to me that cheating is now out of control.

I am not necessarily subscribing to that view, Norman, but I fear that the lay public look upon hitting them with the same fear they would apply to the school bully. What if he hits me back?

[jeff oakley]

The point I was making was if the economy was not in such a state, share price up would the people have been too bothered about the actions of the banks. We have been happy in ignorant bliss for years as this sort of thing has gone on. Any form of price fixing is illegal but there are ways around this as I demonstrated with opec. Yes the bankers have broken the law, has it hurt them personnally, no it is the bank who has taken the hit. The directors of the banks may well not have known what was going on and might resonably not been in a position to know, now they do it is the action they take that is important. What we don't need is another levenson type event which will not make a bit of differance except to drive a lot of bank dealings offshore.