Sunday, December 21, 2008

Barclay CEO apologies


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7793035.stm

Mr Varley also told the BBC that the banking industry was going through what he called a "public relations crisis" and must apologise for what went wrong. "We have to have a banking industry in which consumers have trust and in some cases that trust has broken down," he said.

"If I ask myself, 'Do I feel the industry should be self-confident about recreating that trust through time?' I do feel that, but it starts by saying sorry. "It starts by admitting things went wrong."

He said he hoped his own bank was one of those in which customers still had trust. But he went on: "If you look at the industry as a whole, if I speak as a member of the industry rather than as chief executive of Barclays, I absolutely have to say we should share our portion of responsibility."

Our correspondent said Mr Varley was not the first senior banker to admit failings. In November, Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Tom McKillop said he was "profoundly sorry" for his company's financial difficulties.

3 comments:

  1. AH!

    They will offer apologies!


    BUT NOT REFUNDS.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The mentality and culture of the typical local FIs is neither to apologise nor to compensate. If MAS were to apologise, the sky might fall. This is an Asian thing, and it makes me ashamed to be an Asian.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Apologies are cheap, and worthless.

    ReplyDelete