Volcker Warns Top Bankers They've "Been Inadequate"
Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker decided to set straight a group of top-ranking bankers at a conference held yesterday in the UK. The bankers, concerned that new regulation could constrain future financial innovation, were shut down by a “clearly irritated” Volcker.
According to the Times Online:
“…he criticised them for failing to grasp the magnitude of the financial crisis and belittled their suggested reforms … for their failure to acknowledge a problem with personal rewards and questioned their claims for financial innovation.
“On the subject of pay, he said: ‘Has there been one financial leader to say this is really excessive? Wake up, gentlemen. Your response, I can only say, has been inadequate.'”
Volcker went on to say:
“I wish someone would give me one shred of neutral evidence that financial innovation has led to economic growth — one shred of evidence…”
Read more about the intense outburst by the Economic Recovery Advisory Board chairman in the Times’ coverage of the Future of Finance Initiative event.
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