Despite their directorial pedigrees, clear duties and responsibilities and regular attendances at meetings, many directors seem to have neither noticed nor questioned risky business development policies. Executive directors have not been held to account. Recent preoccupations of the corporate governance community have not helped. In some quarters, there has been an almost exclusive concentration upon board structures.

With the credit standing of French and other banks in the Eurozone under threat, recent events have called into question the value-added by many boards, particularly those of financial institutions that have been bailed out or whose assets have been written down. The banks rescued by the UK government are not obscure companies run by inexperienced directors. They include household names, whose board members have included the ‘great and the good’ of the city establishment.

Despite their directorial pedigrees, clear duties and responsibilities and regular attendances at meetings, many directors seem to have neither noticed nor questioned risky business development policies. Executive directors have not been held to account. Boards have presided over bank cultures and practices that suggest a short-term focus, self-interest and greed among those for whom they have been responsible.

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