Banks can change what people think of them but it requires hard work

Public trust in bankers has doubled in the past five years, but there’s still a long way to go for the sector

During the banking crisis, I recall asking a very senior banker why his profession did not do more to sell itself. Why, for instance, did no banker come forward to explain the good (yes, really) that bankers do, and instead we had to make do with the spokesperson for their industry association having to fend off relentless questioning?

The fact that this chosen voice was a woman, and not even a banker, did not help. The impression was of a bunch of smooth, powerful blokes skulking in the back, while out front, the poor soul was trying to defend them.

One of the most telling press articles from the period was the one accompanying the infamous assertion from the then Goldman Sachs chief, Lloyd Blankfein, that his investment bank was doing “God’s work”.