IT’S not that much of a surprise that anger against bankers and the banking industry is boiling over again as most of the public sector and parts of the private sector are staring down the barrel again, ahead of the cuts.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Bob Diamond is to become the new chief executive of Barclays with an annual salary of over £1m and bonuses and performance based incentive shares of several millions more.
The 59-year-old American, who currently heads Barclays investment banking activities, is already thought to be worth £95m (how much money can one bloke spend for crying out loud) was described by Lord Mandelson as “the unacceptable face of banking”.
He made a tidy sum over the collapse of Lehman brothers and many politicians see him as the embodiment of the big bonus culture which brought about the near implosion of the world’s financial system in 2008.
His expertise lies in an area that Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has branded “casino banking”.
Mr Diamond has little real experience of retail (high street) banking which is likely to worry people like the protesters who bricked-up the entrance to Barclays in Westbourne yesterday as well as government ministers who are pressing the banks – though not hard enough – to free up lending to small businesses. The likes of Mr Diamond need to start delivering.
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