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The decades-old Carpenter’s hit “We’ve Only Just Begun” has become Martin Wheatley’s favorite song. He likes to hum it in a minor key so that any bankers who hear him will sense that something major and ominous is coming. They would be right. For some, it’s going to be game over, once Wheatley gets the new Financial Conduct Authority operating at full speed.
Wheatley is not sneaking up on the banking establishment. He has given fair warning. He stated today the there is “a big wake up call coming” and, lest they think that they have already seen the iron heel of the FCA, he warned that “We have barely got started.”
This writer does not typically favour government intervention into business. But when a man’s business is stealing everything in my wallet, I take exception and hope that a uniformed, government official will intervene. I also hope that the government will follow up by taking the thief to visit another government official who will further intervene and put the crook in jail. I expect that, if a woman is being raped, the government will intervene, identify, apprehend, and hold the rapist accountable.
Brits have been robbed and raped at the hands of the UK banking system, and it’s high time someone with some different background, someone who is not a member of the banking fraternity, holds the perpetrators responsible. The banks have been robbing the public blind for years, picking our pockets whilst whispering “I love you” in our ears. At least they say “Thank you” when they are done. (These are high class criminals).
Martin Wheatley is bringing a new concept to banking — one they have not heard before: Accountability. Wheatley said “”We will shine a light into a number of dark corners and we will have to take action depending on what we find. The truth is that if our supermarkets in this country, if John Lewis, operated in a way that banks do, they wouldn’t have any customers.” He is absolutely right.
When Wheatley is talking about accountability, he means jail-time, if appropriate, and heavy fines — ones that actually hurt.
Of course, whilst cries for reform have been heard from nearly everywhere, Wheatley’s foreshadowing of things to come is now meeting a swell of resistance from people who fear that the FCA’s efforts might cripple the banking system in some way. I support Wheatley and the FCA on one simple principle, the one in which Einstein defined insanity : Doing things the same way and expecting different results.
Wheatley has a good idea what he is going to be up against. On the one hand, it may be deja vu as culpability is uncovered and the guilty say, “But I was just following orders.” He is going to do his best to nail the proverbial jelly to the wall when he begins to hear the response that “It wasn’t my decision. It was the committee’s.” I’ve always wondered how a committee decision absolves one of personal guilt. I’m counting of Mr. Wheatley to demonstrate that it doesn’t.
If you want to have an idea about who expects to be targeted by the FCA, here are two suggestions. Wheatley has indicated that he is going to shine a light in every dark corner. Look to see who runs and hides. That’s usually the vermin. Or, listen to the banking people who are begining to howl. When you throw a stone into a pack of dogs, the one that gets hit is the one that barks first.
Watch out. Wheatley’s on the Way. And that’s a good thing. Unless, of course, you are a banker.
