ROE sickness
2005-11-09
Bankers are among our most interactive readers. They laugh at
our jokes (one top banker particularly liked our reference to
Eminem and "Stan"), but they don't let us sleep if they disagree.
Jack Stack of ČS set us straight for our remarks about state
intervention but agreed that greater consumer protection is
needed. We sought a response from Pavel Kavánek of ČSOB to
his consumer-protection troubles, but he entered the hospital
on Mon. for a knee operation. (Sorry to have kicked him while he
was down.) His spokesman, Milan Tománek, acknowledged that
the banks might be at fault for selling services that are too
state-of-the-art for the size of their customers' wallets. It
seems, though, that the banks suffer from another ailment. They
think they have an inalienable right to a 20% return on equity,
and by golly they're going to get it. For most everyone else, it's
something to work toward.
[Czech Republic banking Česká spořitelna CEO regulation]
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