Angela Knight: Banker-bashing is a British sport - let's move on

I totally agree. There are many differences in the US compared with the UK and one of them is the attitude to success. We seem to knock it, the US seem to encourage it. Wonder why they are the leading economy of the world?

I dont disagree the banks made some awful mistakes and has cost the tax payer dearly but lets move on, get our act together and get ourselves out of the mess we find ourselves in. No one else is going to do it for us. We can blame who we like but it doesnt change anything.

It has to be good news to see the banks making profit again and being able to pay bonuses, which in turn helps th economy. We should be more concerned if the banks were not recovering so quickly.

...Angela. she knows she is defending the indefensible.

The bonus pot right now is made up of taxpayers money, and if the investment banks had been truly private, they would have gone bust, with some directors possibly joining them, and facing enquiries from Companies house.

There is indeed outrage in America, but even if there was not, as an excuse it ranks with 'but John's mum lets him stay up late'. That did not get me far as a child - why should the Banks get away with it?

Once taxpayers are repaid, and proper regulation and systems are in place - talk to Mervyn please Alistair - then, but only then should we return to anything like the bonus sytem of the past.

And can we have our apology now please? The one from the speech that said OUR model was broken....?

I have been looking at some of the reports carried by the BBC, and they seem to indicate there is not just anger "over the pond" but also concrete action!

For example Obama is forcing through cuts to the salaries and bonuses of senior executives of those banks that have received State aid - such that one Executive has had to repay salary received to date.

Also a number of senior Bank of America executives are facing court action over the approval of bonuses last year, and there is as much disapproval over one ex-Chief Exec's reported $35million pension package as ever there was over Fred the Shred.

Let's also not forget that the "success" for which executives want to be rewarded could not have happened if it were not for the massive taxpayer-funded bailouts that not only directly rescued certain banks but underpinned the entire system for those that did not need support.

As for having to pay these bonuses to retain the best staff what utter claptrap! Presumably these are the same "best staff" that made the dodgy deals in the first place and got us all into this mess; not to mention that the market must be awash with experienced bankers from Bear Stearns, Lehmans, not to mention all the cutbacks at the other banks.

What should be happening is ALL bonuses should be in the shape of share options or something along those lines which can only be vested 5 years after leaving the company. The UK taxpayer has the right as the majority owner to dictate how bonuses are paid and as Kevin says, if they are that good and committed to the long term prospects of their employer, just give them a decent basic a modest annual bonues dependent upon annual profits and a massive contigent bonus dependent upon share price performance and could be worthless in 5 years time if they fail to do the business on the day and for it to stick. For all that commission in teh advice industry is seen as a flaw, the fact that indemnity commission can be clawed back for up to 4 years always used to focus the mind on making sure the business would stick and the client would remain happy.

The author PJ O'Rourke has noted that, "Cambridge University separated the study of economics from the study of moral sciences in 1903. A little too soon." There are lamentably few people in financial services who, like John Bogle and David Swensen, are willing to do good work for reasonable pay. People tend to be attracted to financial services because they want to make money, not because they want to do good things for society. Given human nature, it seems to me that we need more controls to try to keep a handle on grab-and-run excesses.

I have heard bank bashing called many things, some unprintable, but to call it a sport is in very bad taste to people who like, enjoy or follow sport!

True sport lovers get much enjoyment and sometimes displeasure from sport people's performance and make their comments well heard.

However, Angela Knight (Poor Love) should be aware that the bankers really needed a good bashing, not the harmelss slap they have had on the wrist.

I would imagine in the old days, Sir Fred Goodwin would no longer be a SIR and if the truth of the matter is known, he should still have it removed because he has provided one of the largest disservices to millions of people, both shareholders of the company he was head of and the vast amount of the UK public. This was not a service which would warrant a Knighthood!

One could question will his Scottish cronies (ie: Gordon and mates) take any measures to do so? I DON'T THINK SO.

PLEASE STOP INSULTING PEOPLE BY CALLING THIS APPALLING BEHAVIOUR A SPORT!

My personal balance sheet can show a very positive result, if I exclude the money I owe on my mortgage, and credit cards. What is this 'profit' the banks are alleged to be making, upon which bonuses are to be calculated! They cannot possibly declare a profit until the money is repaid to the taxpayer. There is a similarity with strikers coining massive overtime payments, to clear the backlog which they created by their industrial action.

And I am tired of hearing "We have to pay high salaries and bonuses to get the best people". They are the very people who created the whole mess in the first place, hardly; The Best

Angela Knight's arrogant and patronising comments are typical of the ruling elite that run Britain today for their own self-interest and commercial gain.

Everyone else is treated as a complete half-wit and when an argument has been lost, one simply requests that we all draw a line in the sand, move on and everything goes on as before.

Why this country has not had a revolution and removed the selfish, greedy self-serving officials from office, I have no idea.

Where's Cromwell when you need him?

Strangely, I am not talking about bankers here; I am talking about the hangers-on such as Angela Knight and the FSA executives who only stand to make money if they keep the bankers happy.

Quango non-jobs are just as bad such as those who run Ofsted with salaries of over £200,000 and yet have no influence over whether we consumers are ripped off or not.

As for incompetents in all parts of government, it's a joke.

I have no problem with bankers earning bonuses so long as they 'earn' them rather than being 'paid' them regardless of future performance.

I have no problem with bailed out banks doing the same so long as they do their part to reduce the tax payers debt in a timely manner.....like now.

The people who run this country and call themselves clear progressive thinkers are an absolute disgrace and take the rest of us for fools.

Angela Knight, Adair Turner, Hector Sants et al, you are these charlatans in our midst.

Go and get proper jobs.

Go now and then we can find someone else to sort out the banks who will sort out the banks like for example, Paul Moore the Halifax whistleblower.

Only then can we draw a line in the sand and move on.

Not surprised people bash bankers

After todays ruling by Lord Phillips I tend to wonder the judiciary suffers from Cherry Blossom poisoning from licking this M/s Knights shoes

How do you justify bouncing someone mortgages payment because the direct payment for this persons salary was 4 hours late, and to add insult to injury she was charge £38 for the privilege

Bankers are liars cheats and charlatans and M/s Knight is their champion

Angela Knight is a Tory clone of Hazel Blears.

They are robotic mouthpieces for their respective puppet masters, devoid of morality, detached from reality and insensible to the follies they espouse.

The mantra Knight espouses is that we need to pay monstrously inflated salaries -and bonuses- to 'top people' in order to attract them to UK financial institutions.

The egregious woman never appears to internalise the fact that 'top people' were the ones who spawned this debacle in the first instance, aided and abetted by the war criminal Brown and his sycophants. If they are so good at their jobs, why are we now faced with an economy which is unfit for purpose?

When bankers threaten resignation, let them do so. Void their contracts at that point, sever all pensions and benefits and appoint able and energetic staff from within their organisations to their positions. Pay the new appointees salaries a few multiples more than the lowest paid in their companies. Prohibit all bonuses.