RBS's Stephen Hester: bankers were "masters of the universe when they should have been servants to the customers"

In a Telegraph article, RBS's Stephen Hester observed

the banking industry "almost got separated from society" and that its culture needs a massive overhaul. 

"People thought they were masters of the universe when they should have been servants of the customer," he said. 

"These issues are illustrative of a culture in banking that before the crisis got to the wrong place, and I came out of another industry back into banking three and a half years ago, and my mission is to change RBS for the better, physically and culturally."

Regular readers know that the banking industry got separated from society when it based its business model on profiting from opacity.

If Mr. Hester were serious about changing RBS for the better, physically and culturally, he would be the CEO that leads the banking industry by adopting ultra transparency.

By disclosing on an ongoing basis RBS's current asset, liability and off-balance sheet exposure details, Mr. Hester gets two benefits.

First, the bright light of sunshine in all the opaque areas of finance that RBS is involved in will act to change the culture as all financial market participants know that sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Second and equally important, it allows Mr. Hester to make a statement that going forward RBS is a bank that can be trusted.