More than three years after the first stirrings of the global financial crisis it is possible to raise a cheer at pretty much any public meeting by having a bash at the banks. As the global economy struggles out of recession, we remain both a symbol of the crisis and also an easy target for the blame.

The industry does not duck its responsibility. But it is becoming clearer that though we were part of the problem, we were by no means all of it. The economic problems of some countries were masked for many years but are now exposed for all to see. The banks' role in the global financial crisis was certainly as a contributor to the problems, but not their sole author.