Paving the way to making our banks better citizens

To fulfil their role in recovery banks need to rebuild the trust that has been decimated by events of the past three years, writes Bob Diamond

SOON after the financial crisis began in 2008, I was at a meeting in the US where a senior White House economic adviser put a question to me: “Do you think banks can be good citizens?”

As I started to answer “Yes,” he interjected: “If your answer is ‘yes,’ think about the fact that no one will believe you.”