Barclays chief says banks should stop saying sorry

Banks should stop apologising for mistakes made during the financial crisis, Barclays Plc's new head told British lawmakers, striking a sometimes defiant tone in a grilling over bonuses on Tuesday. In a crammed room which spectators had to queue to enter, US-born Bob Diamond - one of Europe's highest paid executives - declined to say if he would again waive his bonus and would not say how much Barclays would lend to businesses.
"There was a period of remorse and apology for banks and I think that period needs to be over. We need our banks willing to take risks ... so we can create jobs," Diamond told a members of the Treasury Select Committee. In sometimes heated exchanges with 12 parliamentarians from the Committee, pay was the hot topic as expected amid a political spat over British bank bonuses likely to total about 7 billion pounds ($11 billion).
The UK government is not expected to clamp down too hard on banker pay after a series of meetings with lenders, but instead will seek commitments from them to lend to small businesses and kick-start the economy. But Diamond - who said he was extremely grateful for support for the sector from regulators and central banks during the height of the crisis - said the bank could not decide how much to lend without making credit quality checks.
Demand for loans had also subsided, he said. The row about irresponsible pay flared up in the UK after a weekend report that Stephen Hester, CEO of majority state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, was set for a 2.5 million pound bonus. Diamond - who earned 21 million pounds in 2007 but has waived his bonus for the last two years - said he would show any restraint he could in his remuneration policy. But asked whether he would again waive his bonus this year, Diamond told the cross-party group of politicians he would decide "with his family" whether to accept a bonus if he was awarded one. A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, asked whether the government had thrown in the towel on bank bonuses, said that wasn't the case. Discussions with the banks were proceeding, he said at a media briefing.