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London Bankers 'Find Rich-Poor Divide Too Wide'
LONDON — Financial sector workers in Britain believe the gap between rich and poor is too wide, according to a survey by a think-tank published on Monday.
Demonstrators dressed as zombie bankers participate in a flash mob outside the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange in London October 31, 2011. (photo: REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett) The report, by an institute linked to St Paul's Cathedral in London where anti-capitalist protesters have been camping since mid-October, said 75 percent of respondents thought the wealth divide was too big.
Bankers, brokers and corporate lawyers working in the City of London financial district were questioned about the ethics of their salaries and bonuses and corporate social responsibility.
Two-thirds of respondents said "salary and bonuses" were the main motivation for financial services professionals, with "enjoyment of the work" coming a distant second.
However, 70 percent of respondents believe bonuses and rewards for City workers should only reflect long-term success, rather than short-term performance.
Most financial services professionals in London think that deregulation of financial markets results in less ethical behaviour.
Deregulation in 1986 helped transform the City of London into a rival to Wall Street in New York.
But it changed a culture of financial partnerships -- where bankers and traders essentially betted on markets with their own money -- into a culture based increasingly on risk-taking.
The St Paul's Institute report, "Value and Values: Perceptions of Ethics in the City Today", was based on a survey of 515 financial professionals carried out between August 30 and September 12.
The 200-tent camp of protesters demonstrating against corporate greed outside St Paul's Cathedral -- an offshoot of the Occupy Movement, which began in Wall Street in New York -- has sharply divided the cathedral authorities.
Planned legal action against the activists was suspended and the head of St Paul's, Dr Giles Fraser, resigned rather than see protesters forcibly evicted.
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11 Comments so far
Show AllTo read that 2/3rds of the workers in The City are worried about income equality is a bit surprising, considering their branch of the world financial system is as culpable as Wall Street for it. Perhaps the only difference between the financial mandarins of The City and Wall Street is that the London office knows what they peddle is crap, while the Wall Street portion have wholly bought into their own propaganda.
I am thankful to note that some bankers and brokers take note of
the Truth: That disparity in amounts -- when taken to an extreme --
becomes a difference in kind. If, say, the upper 1% have more
than the lower 50% combined, then that makes a difference of
kind (as to legality): illegal rather than legal. If the upper 1% only
have more than the lower 10%, then that makes a difference of
amount, which can be attributed to the 1%'s greater intellegence,
drive to succeed, etc., and which should be seen as legal.
I reckon that only in England, with its CENTURIES of attention
given to the rights of the governed under limited rights of the
governors, would we expect to see the governors [bankers,
corporate directors, C.E.O.'s, traders, brokers, insurers etc.]
permit admission that gross disparities should not go beyond
some bounds of legality. The corporatists in the U.S. should
take notice. Governance only has it's " ... just powers from
the consent of the governed."
Wow!, this was a top quality post. In theory I'd like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I keep putting it off and never seem to achieve anything
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The article's title is a bit misleading, no? In what sense are 'financial services professionals' the same as 'bankers'? The article never defines what is meant by 'professionals' but many people who work in banks have more in common with service economy workers. I think of 'bankers' as those who OWN the banks, or shares of the banks. Perhaps an article like this would do well to at least offer a breakdown of who they interviewed by job title?
My thoughts exactly. Being that the demographics are omitted, not much was learnied
Cockney has nothing to do with these financial sector parasites on the people of the UK.
London bankers - good old Cockney rhyming slang.
"Financial sector workers in Britain believe the gap between rich and poor is too wide"
Translation: Pony up, government, but stay out of our profits!
It seems that the last half of the article, the part where these good folks explained how they planned to rectify the situation, was inadvertently omitted. I'm sure an update will be forthcoming in due course.
They're trying to avoid the guillotine
The good news: we talk less about debt and more about income inequality, unemployment and home foreclosures.