Things worth reading: 20th July 2009

Things we're reading today include …

Today's must read

Lord Myners attacks bankers’ greed and finds God (Times)

“Lord Myners, the minister appointed to clean up the City, is so disenchanted
by bankers’ greed and self-aggrandisement that he is planning to become a
theology student
… he was worried he
may have ’neglected’ the moral purpose of life and was ’increasingly
exercised and concerned with the fact that we have compromised our lives … this is very evident in the financial community – that money has become
everything. People have lost their sense of purpose. The absence of clear
moral purpose is something that is very troubling.’ ”

Bank bonuses

Bonus boom time returns to Wall Street (Independent)
Leave the bankers alone to their bonuses (Times)
Make bankers and bureaucrats pay for their mistakes (Telegraph)
Crackdown on City pay ignites fears of exodus by star bankers (Times)
Ex-Lehman traders to get huge bonuses (Guardian)

RBS lost 700 top traders (Times)

US Banks

US banks unleash wave of optimism (Financial Times)
Behind the profits lies trouble for 2 bank giants (St. Louis Post Dispatch)
Return of the banks' golden age is an illusion (Financial Times)

UK Banks

Tories say break up the big banks (Times)
Lloyds to stun City on profit (Times)
Roger Jenkins to quit Barclays and set up own venture (Times)

UK Economy

Ernst and Young report says hopes of recovery in UK are unrealistic (Telegraph)
UK economy set for biggest fall since 1945 (Independent)
City firms plot to avoid 50pc tax (Telegraph)

Europe and Asia

Top City financiers step up lobby against new laws from Brussels (Independent)
Hester courts Brussels in bid to avoid fire sale (Telegraph)
Swiss call for tax watchdog (Guardian)
China's eastern promise belies its volatility (Telegraph)

General

Bring back usury law to control interest rates, campaign urges (Guardian)