Banks have seen their reputations plummet in the years since the onset of the financial crisis, and regaining the public's trust is of paramount importance. By instilling a code of conduct – and including four principles of good conduct within that – financial institutions can start on that journey.
An initial public offering by Clydesdale Bank in February will see the lender – currently owned by National Australia Bank – independently managed from its home market of Scotland. This will, say its senior staff, help it to focus on its positions of strength, such as SME funding and agriculture.
The formation of a European banking union should have helped ease Greece's economic woes, but far from putting European banks on an even footing, the so-called union left Greece out in the cold, writes former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
CaixaBank is bucking the trend in the Spanish domestic banking sector, which is still suffering from a slow recovery from the crisis as well as political uncertainty. Technological investment, cost cutting, consolidation and reducing risk have been at the forefront of the bank's growth strategy.