Letters to the Editor

Your editorial last Sunday (April 26) on what the state wants from the banks indicates that it must choose between leaving them total freedom to pursue shareholder value and subjecting them to social pressures. Yet this is the dilemma faced by governments and regulators worldwide.

Banks destroyed shareholder value in the financial crash as they sought to maximise short-term profits. They then denied the obvious fact that gross mismanagement of risk underlay the ...