Barclays’ chief urges banks to apologise

by Gill Montia

Story link: Barclays’ chief urges banks to apologise

The chief executive of Barclays has stated that banks need to apologise for their part in the credit crisis, if they want to regain the trust of their customers.

John Varley was being interviewed for the BBC’s Panorama programme, to be screened on Monday, when he made the remark and went on to describe the banking sector as facing a public relations crisis.

Mr Varley is also predicting that restricted lending could blight the UK economy and housing market for up to two years more.

He does not expect banks to increase their lending before 2010, during which time both consumers and businesses will struggle to access credit.

The chief executive believes that the overall level of debt in the UK economy needs to fall but that the key to economic recovery rests with asset prices, which are currently volatile.

While the banker sees stabilisation as central to restoring growth, he could only predict that it will occur some time over the course of the next 18 months.

Mr Varley has also spoken out about UK house prices recently.

Last week, he predicted a fall of up to 15% in 2009 and at the same time criticised mortgage lending levels over the past decade.