May 31, 2011

Not all bankers

are scum-sucking bas&ards. Meet Robert G. Wilmers. From Joe Nocera writing at the New York Times:
The Good Banker
Not long ago, as I was leaving a business lunch, my luncheon companion handed me a thin manila envelope. He didn�t tell me what was in it or why he had given it to me, but as soon as I opened it up, I immediately understood.

It contained a copy of the 2010 annual report to shareholders by a bank executive I�d never met: Robert G. Wilmers. For nearly 30 years, Wilmers has run the M&T Bank, based in Buffalo. When he took it over, M&T had $2 billion in assets; today, its assets exceed $68 billion, and it�s one of the most highly regarded regional bank holding companies. It has also been one of the best performing stocks in the Standard & Poor�s 500-stock index; indeed, M&T was one of only two banks in the S.& P. 500 that didn�t cut its dividend during the financial crisis.

Wilmers�s report, however, was less about the company�s numbers than about the dismal state of his beloved profession. Wilmers, it turns out, is that rarest of birds: a banker willing to tell harsh truths about banking. That, for instance, much of the money the big banks earn comes from trading profits �rather than the prudent extension of credit that furthers commerce.� That derivatives had helped bring about the crisis and needed to be regulated. That bank executives were wildly overpaid. That the biggest banks � the Too Big to Fail Banks � were operating, as he put it, an �unsafe business model.�

My first thought upon finishing the report was: I need to meet this guy. So, a few weeks ago, I did.
Worth reading the entire article (and clicking on the links). It is difficult to place blame on one President or one Congress -- the corruption has metastasized and both parties need to clean house. Lots of bleach... Posted by DaveH at May 31, 2011 10:32 PM