Finance’s Crisis of Legitimacy

The recent departure of Robert Diamond from Barclays marks a watershed: the big showdowns between democracy and big bankers are still to come – both in the US and in continental Europe. On the surface, the banks remain powerful, yet their legitimacy continues to crumble.

WASHINGTON, DC – The recent departure of Robert Diamond from Barclays marks a watershed. To be sure, CEOs of major banks have been forced out before. Chuck Prince lost his job at Citigroup over excessive risk-taking in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2008, and, more recently, Oswald Grübel of UBS was pushed out for failing to prevent unauthorized trading to the tune of $2.3 billion.

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