Lord Mayor urges end to 'banker bashing'

Nick Anstee says there was a groundswell of public anger towards the City and this had to be addressed to restore trust.

In a speech to the Guild of International Bankers, he said: "We fool ourselves if we do not recognise that trust has fundamentally broken down between the British public and the City and my first concern is to help restore that trust, to help re-establish a workable social contract between citizens and the financial services City.

"Things have changed and we have to be better at explaining what we do. And explaining why it matters – not just for money-making, but for society and its future."

But he also called on politicians to set out a new vision for the place of the City in the UK, and challenged them to stop "banker bashing".

He said: "We should also remember that politicians of all stripes are content to let responsibility and opprobrium for our economic fragility rest anywhere but on their desks.

"I would remind them that the crisis from which we are emerging is not the responsibility of banks alone and I am pleased to see that some bankers are now making this point publicly, notably at Davos (during the World Economic Forum) last week."

Mr Anstee said he worried that politicians dreaming up penalties for the wealth-producing sector might make international banks wonder whether it was worth staying in London – but the advantages of being there were so powerful that any major move out would be difficult.