It’s been a year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers rocked the world’s financial system. A global recession followed, brought about by poor risk management, power, greed and an unprecedented lack of accountability. The required balance between risk and reward somehow went under the radar.

I am a customer, you are a customer, your favourite shops and local businesses are customers, and together we are paying the price for this imbalance between power and accountability. As we tread the murky waters of this recession trying to keep our heads above the water, ‘change is coming’ feels like a cheap tag line, of course it is, you have no choice.

What I want to know is…

What Will Change?

On Saturday finance ministers from around the world met in Scotland for the G20 meeting, the focus, economic growth.

Speaking of the financial sector, Gordon Brown said:

“It cannot be acceptable that the benefits of success in this sector are reaped by the few but the costs of its failure are borne by all of us”.

He went on to call for a new ‘social contract’ with the world’s banks, a route to preventing future bailouts and making them more responsible to society. It sounded sensible to me, a way to move forward when they pull the plug on the money printing press, but by all accounts it was met with a lukewarm response. Despite our vulnerability many governments are looking for a way to bail out of the bail out, but as national debt is rising by £6,000 per second, for now they have pledged to continue the emergency support.

In fairness, there has been change. Last week the Bank of England’s wish to break up some of the world’s biggest financial firms was granted as the government announced their plans to break up Northern Rock, RBS and Lloyds in an effort to increase competition and limit our risk from failure. If the plan is to eliminate monopolies and limit risk, why just these banks? Surely HSBC has the same problems, as do many other banks around the globe whose governments are reluctant to follow suit.

What Needs to Change?

As everyday consumers you and I are a small link in the financial chain, previously unaware of the impact that that financial sector could have on our daily lives. We were detached from the hustle and bustle of the London stock exchange and Wall Street, unaware that our homes, pensions, savings and investments were being used as a stake in a game of roulette.

We have spent a year reading about what went wrong, and thankfully we are starting to read about what needs to change. From everything that I have read there are four main areas that need focus:

• An clear understanding of the role of the financial sector in society and our economy
• The failures of previous regulation
• The management of risk

And, most importantly…

• A global commitment to work together

“The Government’s commitment to regulatory reform is real and no one should be in doubt that change is coming. But nor should anyone in the sector think that government alone will be able to drive the change needed – the time for owners, governors, and managers of firms to show leadership has well and truly arrived.” – Paul Myners, Financial Services Secretary