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Banking is a very treacherous business because you don't realize it is risky until it is too late. It is like calm waters that deliver huge storms.

International lending banks need to focus on areas where private investment doesn't go, such as infrastructure projects, education and poverty relief.

It would not be a bad idea if bankers were to go and sit occasionally with politicians in their political surgeries, where they might get a sense of the injustice that some of the community feel about the banks.

Alleviating poverty would be the Bank's overarching objective.

We need banks and financiers and entrepreneurs to take risks because that's how economies grow over time.

Finance is critical. If sufficient investment is made in infrastructure and venture capital is made available, there will be a big improvement in the situation.

The fundamental problem with banks is what it's always been: they're in the business of banking, and banking, whether plain vanilla or incredibly sophisticated, is inherently risky.

As much as the banking system may not be terribly popular, it is an essential part of the economy.

Instead of abandoning competition and giving banks protected monopolies once again, the public would be better served by making it easier to close banks when they get into trouble. Instead of making banking boring, let us make it a normal industry, susceptible to destruction in the face of creativity.

When better business decisions are made, economists won't make them.