People

‘It’s the bloody bankers again’: Why the public has not forgiven finance

Ten years on from the financial crisis, why are bankers still public enemy number one?

Lehman Brothers building in Canary Wharf, September 11, 2008
Lehman Brothers building in Canary Wharf, September 11, 2008 Photo: Kevin Coombs / Reuters

When can a group of former colleagues getting together for a drink cause controversy? When it is a group of bankers.

The news that around 200 former Lehman Brothers executives were planning a London-based reunion to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the collapse of the bank was branded as “sickening” by Labour MP and shadow chancellor John McDonnell in August. Others said it was in “bad taste”. Hundreds weighed in on twitter and called in to express their outrage in a discussion on London’s talk radio station LBC.

WSJ Logo