Why then have we seen so many scandals in different institutions in such quick succession? There is perhaps only one trend which runs through them all and which may help us to learn lessons for the future: in each instance, behaviours which were accepted within closed institutional circles were opened up to the public glare and did not stand up to scrutiny.
For all their self-alleged sophisticated protestation, European banking entities have somehow ended roughly mirroring the very political disarray their CEOs blame for the slow deleverage levels in the industry and timid lending activity. That is, for their stubborn negative to accept that yesterday's boom succulent profits are today's poisonous hot air.
It does not surprise me that the number of people seeking help after getting into trouble with multiple payday loans is also growing. But there is an alternative.
US state prosecutors have ordered Lloyds Banking Group to court as they investigate whether it participated in any schemes to rig the London Interbank...
The chairmen of five of the high street's biggest banks today appealed to their industry to accept their wrongdoing and continue work to rebuild a sen...
Leaving aside the question of whether we really need 50% of our young going to higher education, let us ask whether there is any alternative to making people pay for higher education.
Ask many small businesses what their biggest problem is and they'll often point to the lack of finance from their bank. Despite the efforts made by the previous and current governments, our high street banks still seem reluctant to lend money and provide credit for small and medium-sized businesses.
If we expect Europe's central bankers to find solutions to the increasingly desperate problems facing the eurozone, then they must be allowed to do so. Nagging fears that they are simply making it up as they go along must be pushed to the back of our minds.
So the bank is out of the bag. Vince Cable announced the establishment of a state bank to get credit flowing to businesses. But as the last five years have taught us, there are all sorts of banks: good banks, bad banks, casino banks and zombie banks.
Debt is hardly something new and what it does to a life are not new either. Emerson, as a socially concerned person in 1936, understood it well and expressed in a way that feels powerfully close to us today.
Saturday 15 September marks four years since the fall of the Lehman brothers, the beginning of the economic crisis. Seeing and experiencing how the economic system has caused pain and sorrow for many people around the world, we cannot forget, however, that it was once intended for something good and to benefit everybody. With the economy as well as our day-to-day lives, we have to remember to combine the qualities of compassion and wisdom with everything we do.
Today it was Customer Service Day at my branch of Bank of Scotland. I know this because my visit - or if you will, 'customer experience' - was out of the ordinary. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that not only was it different to the other 300 or so visits I've made, but it was also the singular occasion when it was different in any respect at all.
Following a long-running social media campaign by complainants, Santander has bowed to business client pressure and agreed to let existing customers k...
Banks must drive up standards and put customers first "to transform a sector that has lost its moral compass", the chief executive of consumer group W...
As everyone seems to be keen to point out, Antony Jenkins (no relation!) is everything his predecessor, Bob Diamond, is not. A retail banker to his socks, he is British, understated and engaging.
A determined Mark Neale has disregarded concerns that a new campaign to reassure customers their savings are safe will not be enough to restore consum...
Part One of Huffington Post's special report into current accounts and free banking assessed why we had fallen for the fib that banking was free - in ...
Consumer lobbyists Which? hit the headlines this week with its report into what it called the “myth of free banking”. It stated some consumers ...
The rate-rigging scandal that has rocked the banking industry is showing no signs of abating as US authorities summoned three British banks for questi...
The review into how Libor is calculated and regulated is due to put forward its first set of proposals. Martin Wheatley, the financier who has been...
American politicians and financial regulators are becoming increasingly anti-British in an attempt to shift financial markets from London to New York,...
Millions of Nationwide customers could be left hundreds of pounds out of pocket, after a "human error" meant payments from Visa debit cards were dupli...
Barclays has sought to distance itself from the decision by some of its American executives to donate to Mitt Romney, as the Republican presidential c...
It seems the bad bank stories will never end. Shortly after the Telegraph broke the scandal of RBS mis-selling hugely expensive interest rate collars to businesses came the Barclays LIBOR scandal, and this week revelations that HSBC unwittingly facilitated money laundering for drug lords and terrorists.
Exploitation and oppression have been with us since the dawn of time, by the strong of the weak, men of women, the rich of the poor. A measure of civilised societies is their effectiveness in mitigating and controlling such unfair and unjust practices.
