September's topic: The Future of Global Banking

For the past year, stories that would normally have remained tucked into the business pages of newspapers have regularly hit the front page as the financial crisis has rolled like a giant thunderstorm around the world. Here, we ask a selection of the world’s most eminent economists, financial authors and commentators how they see the industry developing.
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Visitor comments

Ioan Sorin
Romania

The global finance crises present an opportunity for the powerful Companies and Banks to become the world leaders and to impose their technologies and interest over the local political interest. After that period, the situation will be changed all over the world. This is my opinion.

Theodora Semerdjiev
Bulgaria/Switzerland

Private Banks in Switzerland have done very well face a la crise. Commercial banks should be separated from the Private Banking and Investment banking activities. Or, be part of the same group but accounting separately for their activities so that there can be a clear cut when it comes to evaluation and performance. If something wrong happence to one of the unit it should not affect the other units that are doing well and should get out of their problem by themselves or be closed down for business.

Fathy Osmond
Kuwait

The main cause for the Global Banks crises is the interest system. It must be a 0% system or we will face more crises in the future.

Jeffrey
Taiwan

Politically, extreme left and extreme right meet. Economically, extreme socialism and extreme capitalism meet. Wall Street has been doing something near corruption usually found in a communist regime.

Rick Redmond
Ohio, United States

Nobody seems ready to take the really difficult decisions needed to prevent the same mistakes happening all over again. Surely it's now obvious that banks have to be strictly regulated and prevented from gambling with depositors' money, quite apart from paying their executives massive salaries even if they lose money? Unless there is dramatic action, we'll just find ourselves back in the same position in five or ten years' time, having lost further hundreds of billions of dollars.

Jasmine El-Doori
London, United Kingdom

Congratulations on producing such a wide-ranging and thoughtful production - the discussions feature lively debate. Look forward to reading more of this series soon.

Robyn Fairclough
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Why is there only one woman in the list of interviewees? Surely you could have found other women with something to say about such an important topic or are women only employed as secretaries in the banking industry?

Rashad Sorgeyev
Paris, France

I think that banks are soon going to lose their prime position in the world financial system to telecoms companies, who can offer payments and loans by mobile phone a far more convenient and cheaper than the current system.

Steve McMurray
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Everyone seems to have it in for Alan Greenspan these days, but when he was Fed chairman politicians and commentators thought he walked on water. How can we be so sure that Ben Bernanke isn't leading us into another crisis?