Davos: Top bankers to hold secret talks with Darling in bid to avert tough sanctions. Darling is to meet the chiefs of top British and American banks at a secret meeting in Davos to hear their concerns about the introduction of tough new sanctions against the banking sector

The bosses of HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered, and top executives from key American banks, including JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, will try to persuade the Chancellor that any moves to curtail the banks will have unforeseen repercussions for the global economy.
The talks will be hosted by Peter Sands, the group chief executive of Standard Chartered, one of the architects of last year’s banking bailout.
The bankers will also press the point that any perception that there could be an extension of this year’s tax on bonuses could damage London’s status as a financial capital. However, it is also believed that Mr Darling — who faces a wave of hostile anti-banker sentiment in the run-up to the general election — is also trying to achieve a consensus between London-based bankers before presenting the UK’s position in an increasingly globalised debate.
George Soros, the billionaire investor, attacked bankers, accusing them of being “tone deaf” to public opinion, as some of the world’s most senior industry figures used the platform of Davos to launch a fightback against President Obama’s proposed crackdown. Mr Soros defended Mr Obama’s plans to stop banks growing too big and to prevent them undertaking riskier activities such as proprietary trading and said that he had been unimpressed by the bankers’ response to it.

“I think the banking community . . . is tone deaf. I think it is a very unfortunate reaction.”

Mr Soros’s broadside came minutes after three of the world’s most senior bankers had questioned the wisdom and practicalities of clamping down too fiercely on banks.
Bob Diamond, president of Barclays, argued in favour of large universal banks because they were liked and needed by big business, by governments and by large institutional investors, such as pension funds.

“I’ve seen no evidence … that suggests that shrinking banks to make them smaller and narrower is effective,”

he said.
Josef Ackermann, chairman of Deutsche Bank, hit out at politicians and regulators for failing to take their share of responsibility for the global financial collapse, a direct criticism of politicians that leading bankers have long held off from making.

“It is important that we differentiate between the causes of the crisis and what should be done now.
…Yes, banks made tremendous mistakes, but there were also political failures,”

he said.
Mr Sands said that he was “absolutely” opposed to American plans for the break-up of banks, but he called for a global solution on regulation. (с) TimesOnline

Honest broker trying to melt the ice in Davos: the Standard Chartered chief executive Peter Sands and his wife emerged into the Alpine snow of Davos after a convivial night with Mr Sands’s former employer, McKinsey