Don’t bank on a bonus

There is no set of results a bank could have declared this week which would have pleased the general public. A bank which made losses was inevitably going to be accused of continuing incompetence, while one which made profits was sure to be condemned for its greed. As John Varley, chief executive of Barclays, hinted on the Today programme on Monday, the dastardliness of public opinion should not obscure the fact that profitable banks — his made £2.99 billion in the first half of 2009 — are preferable to unprofitable ones. Anyone with savings in Barclays — not to mention anyone with any shareholdings — ought to be pleased that bankers are managing to earn their keep again. It makes a repeat of last autumn’s banking crisis less likely, with the economic collapse which would accompany it.

That said, this is no time for bankers to feel smug. And Mr Varley trod dangerously close to smugness by asserting that his bank could pay whatever bonuses it fancied because it had avoided being bailed out with taxpayers’ cash.