Bank customers: vulnerable victims or gullible gimps?

I must admit, having listened to Jeremy Roe regarding banks mis-selling swaps contracts along with Which? and the leader of bank employee union Unite talking about how general staff and customers feel about mis-selling, I’m a
little bit cynical.

Have banks behaved badly or are customers a little bit
stupid?

This occurred to me after writing up Jeremy’s speech about banks
bullying small business customers into contracts that protect them from
interest rate rises, and one person commented: “I wonder when the banks will be taken to court for not protecting customers
from interest rate rises?”

In other words there’s the one approach that is trying to
help the customer, in conflict with the other approach that lets the customer down
in a time of need.

Is it a case of heads you lose, tails you lose?

I must admit there’s a fine line.

It’s a little like insurance where, when you make a claim,
you expect the claim to be processed and, fi the insurer dodges the payment
through the small print, you cry ‘foul’. 
Banks are in a similar position.

It is the reason why the industry is known for selling you an
umbrella when the sun is shining, only to find the umbrella full of holes when
it rains.  Is this true?  Are we working in an industry purely focused
upon ripping off our customers or do we work in a business that is customer focused
and honestly trying to help?

I believe it is the latter and, for all the shenanigans of
LIBOR, swaps, PPI and more, it is purely a few rotten eggs and ill-judged deeds
that have resulted in where we are today, and not a systematically focused
industry trying to rip off their customers.

Don’t you agree?