Former ANZ executive blasts culture of greed at banks
26 Jun 2012
A former senior ANZ executive has blamed the industry's culture of greed and failure to look after customers' needs for the public dislike of bankers.
Christopher Page, who served as chief risk officer at ANZ until late 2011, recently told a group of students at the University of Melbourne that banks had turned their back on customers.
''Why do people hate the banks? Because we have broken their trust. We have not looked after our customers' interests,'' he said.
''A lot of organisations now are too inwardly focused, too worried about internal politics and the rate of return.''
According to Page, the industry was still repairing the damage to its reputation as a result of its conduct at the time of the global financial crisis.
''That trust was broken and that trust is not being repaired - and it probably will take more than the rest of my life for that trust to be restored,'' he said.