Warren Buffet added his voice to banker bashing in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.
Part of the letter:
he CEOs and directors of the failed (financial institutions)..have largely gone unscathed…It is the behavior of these CEOs and directors that needs to be changed: If their institutions and the country are harmed by their recklessness, they should pay a heavy price – one not reimbursable by the companies they’ve damaged nor by insurance. CEOs and, in many cases, directors have long benefitted from oversized financial carrots; some meaningful sticks now need to be part of their employment picture as well.
More from a Forbes blog.
The legendary billionaire investor, who still lives in the same house that he bought in 1957 in his native Omaha, Nebraska on the Great Plains of the American Midwest deliberately distant from the gilded canyons of Wall Street, has long been up for taking a pop at what he sees as the follies and foibles of the financial-services industry. His annual shareholders letter is as famous for it as for his love of jokes and down-home exemplary tales.
The Telegraph weighs in.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has criticised financial services executives – claiming their poor risk management had left shareholders counting the costs of government bail-outs.
In his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Mr Buffett said financial institutions were "derelict" if executives did not bear full responsibility for risk control. He added that the financial consequences should be "severe" on them if policymakers are forced to step in.
His comments were made as the investment vehicle saw Q4 profits surge after recovering from its worst year since Mr Buffett took over in 1965. Net income for the Omaha-based company rose to $3.06bn (£2bn) from £117m last year during the period.
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