UBS scandal: banks still irresponsible

An investment banker at the Swiss bank UBS was arrested in London on Thursday on suspicion of having gambled away around 1.5 billion euros. The banks have not reformed as they had promised, the business paper Les Echos concludes: "If UBS still exists today it is thanks to the Swiss taxpayers who have injected billions of francs into the bank. Under such conditions one would think the group would concentrate more on portfolio management in future. That is indispensable for Switzerland's reputation as a treasury. But the fraud also brings shame on the entire sector. It's like in an accident at a nuclear power plant: people start questioning the security of the entire facility. Clearly this affair furnishes proof that the culture of ludicrous, disproportionate risk lives on despite all efforts at regulation. It stands symbolically for a financial world that is cut off from reality and more concerned about making more money from the money it has than about financing the economy."

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