Walking around Davos, we stumble across a small enclave of
bank chiefs sharing breakfast. In this
case, Demon, Blankfine, Jinkens and Gilliver, the CEOs of JPM, GSachs, Barcs and HBSC respectively.
The conversation
takes an interesting turn.
Jinkins: “I
disagree with you. We have to change, we
are changing, we will change and we are committed to change. What are you doing?”
Demon: “We’re
lobbying government for change.”
Jinkens: “But are
you changing?”
Demon: “Yes. This is a brand new suit.”
Blankfine: “What’s
your point Antony?”
Jinkens: “My
point is that we cannot continue as we have.
We’ve been caught with this LIBOR thing – which we blew the whistle on
by the way …”
Demon: “Don’t we
know it!”
Jinkens: “… and
so I’m now personally making sure that we change. I just don’t see that commitment elsewhere.”
Blankfine: “Well,
we’ve changed.”
Jinkens: “No, you
haven’t. You’re still the same guy in
charge when the crisis hit, as are you Jamie.
Take a look over this side of the pond and you’ll see that all the bank leaders
who got us into this crisis have been replaced.”
Demon: “Yes, but what
with? Government lackeys.”
Jinkens: “I take
offence with that.”
Demon: “But you
only got your job due to the government’s agenda.”
Jinkens: “We have
nothing to do with the government.”
Demon: “Yes you
do. Just look at why Bob Diamond left.”
Jinkens: “He left
because the Governor of the Bank of England told us that he would take our
licence away if he didn’t step down.”
Demon: “Exactly. And that was just because the media was
giving the government and the regulator a hammering in the headlines.”
Jinkens makes various
noises like phsz, schrup and druh , before turning to Stuart Gulliver
and saying: “Stuart, you’re very quiet.
What do you think?”
Gilliver speaks
up reluctantly: “That’s my job.”
Jinkens: “What?”
Gilliver
considers the question carefully and quietly says: “It’s my job.”
Jinkens: “What?”
Gillliver thinks
for a while and then says: “It’s my job to be quiet.”
Jinkens: “Oh!”
Blankfine: “So
your point is that the industry needs to change and to do that you need to
change management.”
Jinkens: “Exactly
Llloyd. I would contest that you cannot
have change without changing management.”
Demon: “Ha! Who
would have thought that change management means changing management?”
Blankfine: “Interesting
…”
The group disband but, in a conversation reportedly
overheard later, David Cameron was given a clear instruction that the UK might lose its AAA rating if the management at one of its top banks was not changed.
In Davos, Meetings
Behind Closed Doors
— Lauren Tara LaCapra (@LaurenLaCapra) January 24, 2013
Who's Who?
2004 –JPMorgan CEO
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase
Jamie Dimon became CEO of Bank One, the nation's fifth
largest bank. When JPMorgan Chase purchased Bank One in July 2004, Dimon became
president and chief operating officer of the combined company.
2006 –Goldman Sachs
CEO
Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs
Lloyd Blankfein has been in this position since the May 31,
2006 nomination of former CEO Henry Paulson as United States Secretary of the
Treasury under President George W. Bush.
2007 –Wells Fargo CEO
John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo
John Stumpf has been President for Wells Fargo & Company
since August 2005. He was elected to Wells Fargo’s Board of Directors in June
2006, named Chief Executive Officer in June 2007, and became Chairman in
January 2010.
September 2008 - The Global Financial Crisis hit hard
2008 – Royal Bank of
Scotland CEO
Stephen Hester, CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland
Stephen Hester left British Land and replaced Fred Goodwin
as Chief Executive of the RBS Group on 21st November 2008 after the bank near failed due to the leveraged buy-out of ABN AMRO combined with the crisis wiping out much of the bank's capital.
2010 –Bank of America
CEO
Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America
Brian Moynihan became CEO of Merrill Lynch after its sale to
Bank of America in September 2008, and became the CEO of Bank of America after
Ken Lewis stepped down in 2010 after almost a decade at the helm of the bank due to
issues of the Merrill Lynch acquisition.
2011 – HSBC CEO
On 7 September 2010, Stephen Green, the then Group Chairman and former CEO of HSBC, announced that he would step down after almost eight years at the top of the bank, in order to accept the invitation
of the UK Prime Minister to become Minister of State for Trade and Investment
in January 2011. As a result Michael Geoghegan, the then Group CEO of HSBC, announced his
retirement. Stuart Gulliver, who led HSBC's investment-banking division
since 2006, was appointed Group CEO from January 1, 2011.
2011 – Lloyds CEO
António Horta Osório, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group
António Mota de Sousa Horta Osório joined Lloyds Banking
Group as an Executive Director from Santander.
He became CEO on 1 March 2011 after Eric Daniels stepped down after almost ten years due to the issues of the HBOS acquisition.
2012 – Barclays CEO
Antony Jenkins, CEO of Barclays Bank
Antony Peter Jenkins became Group Chief Executive of
Barclays on 30 August 2012 after Bob Diamond was forced to stand down due to
pressure from Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England.
2012 – Citi CEO
Michael L. Corbat worked his career at Citi and became Chief
Executive Officer of in October 2012 after a management boardroom coup that
forced Vikram Pandit out of office.
Pictures sourced from Edelman and the Moderate Man blog
Postscript:
I am finding it rather surprising the number of people who have emailed or tweeted me to ask: did this conversation really take place. I guess they don't follow or read my blog much, as this conversation is purely fictional for my own entertainment and those of my readers. However, as a disclaimer, Gulliver was not at Davos and Blankfein avoided any networking with those lower than himself, which effectively means everyone at Davos.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
