Might another, less dramatic, bank job redistribute wealth more effectively?On October 17th, South Africa's finance minister, Trevor Manuel, and its banks, insurers and investment companies presented a long-awaited "empowerment charter": a scheme to move more capital and financial jobs into black hands.
It will not be as dramatic as the banking crash of 2008 – but then look at how that played out economically and politically and imagine what the consequences of this slowdown are likely to be.
In a dramatic shift, the bank also said it will change its consumer banking strategy to focus on providing customers with incentives to do more business with the bank instead of generating revenue through penalty fees such as overdraft charges.
I think we need something dramatic: a special bank levy that goes to create a fund to which only black entrepreneurs can apply.
Sources in the firm say it has been told to close all its positions by the end of the year.Although the transformation of Salomon may be the most dramatic, other investment banks are moving in the same direction.
In a dramatic move, the Bank will give short-term credit to Northern Rock to allow it to carry on operating, although customers were tonight being urged to keep calm.
Leading shares are now back below the lowly level they had reached before the weekend's dramatic £37bn UK bank bail-out, with the initial two-day euphoric rise now more than wiped out.
The dramatic fall in bank lending rates means that the returns on cash Isas have also plummeted; the best are paying around 3.5% but most are well below 3%.
A reduction in the supply of loans rather than a fall in demand appears to have caused the dramatic fall in bank lending since the credit crunch, according to the Bank of England.
The dramatic rebound in bank stocks is a reflection of just how depressed the sector had become.
