As I argued in my leader column in the February Asia-Pacific edition of IR magazine, this year will not be the Year of the Ox, but the year of the scapegoat.
Obviously, it goes without saying that everyone hates bankers now, but who else will be gracing our dartboards this year?
Well, I'm sure a few politicians will be up there. Among others, Alan Greenspan and Gordon Brown have both taken a fair bit of flak for their part in the crisis. And anyone who saw the BBC's boisterous business editor Robert Peston testify at the recent Treasury Select Committee will know that hacks have also come in for a bit of a pasting too.
So who else? Maybe, finally, it is the turn of the investors. After all, perhaps it was their insatiable appetite for increasing returns ad infinitum that led all those bankers to their unhealthy obsession with securitization. It was also investors who encouraged lots of the companies they were investing in to press ahead with heavily leveraged growth strategies with minimal attention paid to due diligence. It's refreshing, then, to hear someone from the buy side holding his hands up.
Donald MacDonald, chair of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) initiative did the responsible thing this week and shouldered some of the blame for the mess the markets are now in (while cleverly attempting to divert the focus back onto ESG issues):
'As clients and part-owners of the financial institutions at the core of this crisis, institutional investors should accept some shared responsibility for the behaviours that led to the crisis… we must factor into our decisions the full spectrum of environmental, social and corporate governance issues that have an impact on asset values. Institutional investors can make a positive contribution to rebuilding trust and confidence by taking action.'
Clare Harrison
Deputy international editor
I think Hank Greenberg might be due some blame, although I'm sure he would protest otherwise. http://tinyurl.com/aj6p8u
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