WHO ARE THE BANKERS???

According to the dictionary a banker is a person who owns a bank. Now days the title could most probably be extended to those who run a bank (CEO, chairman, board of directors) but these people are employees appointed by the shareholders. So the SHAREHOLDERS are the actual bankers. If you look at the shareholders list of any major bank, you will rarely find anybody with more than 5%. For the international banks, even 5% is too much. In most of the cases, the “major” shareholders are not people but legal entities. So who are the shareholders of these legal entities. Who is the owner of a mutual fund, an investment bank, a savings or pension fund. Who is the owner of public institutions like the church, universities or charities that own shares in the banks? In most cases the shareholders of these legal entities are either normal ordinary average people who have a few savings deposited in a mutual fund, who buy shares of an investment bank, who pay their pension plan for years, or other legal entities.  In cases of  a public legal entity like a university the “owner” is the general public?

Assume for once that the general assembly of such a bank was to accept only the actual shareholders in person (no proxies) and, in case of a legal entity holding its shares, the persons who hold the shares of this legal entity – and so on and so forth. Who would be attending at the end? The real people who own the shares = the owners = the bankers. And who would that be? You, me, our neighbors, your colleagues from work, very average everyday people who work hard to make their living. If you expect to see individuals who hold a ruling majority forget about it. If you expect to see the names that appear in the list of Forbes holding significant percentages (say over 5%) again forget about it.

So next time you wish to blame the “bankers” for the financial crisis, go to your bathroom mirror to meet one. And if you want to tell me that it’s the managers, the big sharks of the board who do the damage, then I would suggest to remember that they are only employees and you should complain to the owners of the bank for hiring them and not firing them. And if you wish to meet the owners, go again in front of your mirror.