A Year After the Crunch, It's Boom Time Again for Bankers
A year after the global economy was brought close to collapse by reckless lending, investment banks are preparing to announce huge profits. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: Investment bankers are about to enjoy a record bonus season as confidence surges in the financial markets.

Just 12 months after the global economy was brought close to collapse by reckless lending — forcing banks to turn to taxpayers for help — stock markets in London and New York are enjoying one of the strongest bull runs in decades and investment banks are preparing to announce huge profits.

In Britain, job losses slowed in the three months to August. Unemployment rose by 88,000 to 2.47 million, the lowest rise since July last year, and youth unemployment fell slightly. China reported strong trade figures and oil hit a high for the year.

Goldman Sachs, which employs 5,500 people in London, is expected to report a sharp rise in third-quarter profits today. Analysts estimate that, barring a major setback, the average London worker at Goldman will receive about $748,000 (£467,000) in salary and bonuses — 13 per cent higher than 2007 and more than double the 2008 average. >>> Patrick Hosking and Christine Seib | Thursday, October 15, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Goldman Sachs on track to pay out record $22bn as profits jump to $3.19bn: Goldman Sachs is under fresh fire after revealing its compensation pot is on track hit a record $22bn (£13.5bn) this year after the bank set aside more for pay and bonuses in nine months than in the whole of last year. >>> James Quinn, US Business Editor | Thursday, October 15, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: Goldman Sachs reignites pay row with 46% rise >>> Christine Seib in New York | Thursday, October 15, 2009

Unadulterated Greed!
THE TELEGRAPH: The two most senior figures in the Church of England have launched outspoken attacks on the excesses of capitalism which they claim have led to the current global financial crisis.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, condemned the financial traders who made millions by driving down the share price of leading banks as "bank robbers and asset strippers".

In a powerful speech to City bankers on the effects of the credit crisis on Wednesday, he denounced the "Alice in Wonderland" world of global finance where short-sellers profited by laying bets that shares in HBOS would fall in price.

Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, warned in a magazine article that modern devotion to the free market is a form of idolatry and that Karl Marx was right in his analysis of the power of "unbridled capitalism".

The pair's attacks came following a tumultuous week in which four major financial institutions went bust or were taken over, triggering multi-billion pound government rescue plans to steady the markets, after traders targeted banks that had been weakened by exposure to unrecoverable mortgage debts and a reduced ability to borrow money.

The billionaire Wall Street hedge fund manager John Paulson was one of those who made money by betting that the share price of HBOS, Britain's largest mortgage lender, would fall. The activities of such short-sellers - now temporarily banned - led to a collapse in the bank's shares last week and it had to be bought out by Lloyds TSB.

Speaking to the Worshipful Company of International Bankers, Dr Sentamu said: "Those who made £190million deliberately underselling the shares of HBOS, in spite of its very strong capital base, and drove it into the bosom of Lloyds TSB, are clearly bank robbers and asset strippers.

"We find ourselves in a market system which seems to have taken its rules of trade from Alice in Wonderland, where the share value of a bank is no longer dependent on the strength of its performance but rather on the willingness of the Government to bail it out, or rather on whether the Government has announced its intentions so to do." Archbishops of Canterbury and York Blame Capitalism Excesses for Financial Crisis >>> By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | September 24, 2008

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