Letter: Hostages to banks

Considering the economic damage done by the banking system since deregulation, it is surprising how many victims remain sympathetic to banks and bankers.

It brings to mind the 1973 bank robbery in Sweden when several hostages were held for six days and, when released, refused to testify against their captors. This is now widely known as the Stockholm Syndrome.

An entire generation has forgotten the local and (usually) helpful high-street bank manager and the building societies where savers received a point or two over inflation and mortgages were dispensed responsibly at a point above that - a margin upon which the societies managed to survive quite comfortably.

Three decades of being hostage to deregulated banks and bemused by City smoke and mirrors, how refreshing it would be to press the "system restore" button and return to when producing useful goods and services was rewarded ahead of socially corrosive "financial innovation".

RF Morrison

Colquhoun Street

Helensburgh