Carney: bankers should focus on clients, not Ferraris

Incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said financiers should focus on their clients and not the trimmings of a luxury lifestyle.

In a speech at Western University in Canada's London, Carney (pictured) said bankers should see themselves as 'custodians' of their institutions, focusing on how to improve them and the way to best serve their clients.

Carney, the Bank of Canada governor who is due to take over from Mervyn King as governor of the Bank of England in July, made the comments at a time when banks are increasingly under pressure from the public and politicians.

The Libor rate-rigging scandal still hangs over Barclays - despite its 26% rise in adjusted pre-tax profit for the last year - and state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland is on Thursday expected to announce sweeping cuts to its bonus pool and investment banking division to appease to angry investors over its role in the scandal.

To buck up their ideas, Carney said: 'Bankers need to see themselves as custodians of their institutions, improving them before passing them along to their successors.'

He added: 'It has been said that "trust arrives on foot, but leaves in a Ferrari". After the Ferrari screeched out of the parking lot in 2008, what steps have been taken to rebuild trust?'

The answer, Carney continued, was that banks' efforts to rebuild trust had been overshadowed by scandals.

'This underscores that it remains the collective responsibility of banks, regulators and other stakeholders to rebuild trust in banking. Banks need to participate actively in reform, not fight it. Until recently, too few bankers acknowledged their industry’s role in the fiasco. The time for remorse is far from over.'