The Great Debate UK
Hypocrisy piled on humbug
The row over bankers‘ pay and honours has presented the depressing spectacle of British public life at its nadir, with hypocrisy piled on humbug.
On the one hand, we hear bankers and their apologists arguing that their rewards are required to keep them from running off to sunnier climes, which prompts a number of questions. First, when bankers claim that they have to be paid a fortune in recognition of the size of the organizations they run, we may well ask: how many banks of this scale are there in the world today? How many are so hungry for skills like those of Britain’s bank bosses that they are willing and able to offer these sorts of rewards?
Three or four, maybe, at most – after all, several of the world’s largest banks are now owned by the Chinese Government, so they are unlikely to want a British boss any time soon, and the others do actually have a full management complement anyway. By definition, the number of vacancies at this level is extremely limited, so the danger of an exodus of top British bankers is much exaggerated.
In any case, does it really matter?
After all, even before the crash, there was quite a lot of sniping at high City payoffs and we were told at the time that the outrageous salaries and bonuses were needed to secure the services of people like (Sir) Fred Goodwin et al – and since then we have had ample opportunity to assess the true value of their high-price expertise.
Are footballers really worth 12 times more than nurses?
-Rachel Mason is public relations manager at Fair Investment Company. The opinions expressed are her own.-
A recent survey revealed that the public believe footballers are the most valuable members of society. Now that is one of the most depressing things I have heard in a long time.
from Funds Hub:
Unstable, greedy, selfish….
Not the words ringing in my ears as I leave for work every morning, but City of London Investment CEO Barry Olliff's take on the UK financial sector.
Olliff is taking his company from AIM and onto the main market next month and the new governance guidelines which will apply to the firm as a result have sparked a frank assessment. Take it away, Barry:
from The Great Debate:
How the bailout feeds bloated banker pay
-- James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own --
Rising pay in the finance sector in the wake of the global financial crisis is no surprise and is driven partly by the government's bailout itself and the underwriting of banks that are too big to fail.
News that some financial firms benefitting from government largesse actually increased the share of revenue they pay their employees sparked a lot of outrage but more heat than light.
