Profit ‘Not Satanic,’ Barclays Says, After Goldman Invokes Jesus

Simon Clark and Caroline Binham
Bloomberg
November 4, 2009

[efoods]Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer John Varley stood at the wooden lectern in St. Martin-in-the- Fields on London’s Trafalgar Square last night and told the packed pews of the church that “profit is not satanic.”

The 53-year-old head of Britain’s second-biggest bank said banks are the “backbone” of the economy. Rewarding high- performing bankers with more pay doesn’t conflict with Christian values, he said. Varley was paid 1.08 million pounds ($1.77 million) and no bonus in 2008.

“Talent is highly mobile,” Varley, a Catholic, said. “If we fail to pay or are constrained from paying competitive rates then that talent will move to another employer.”

Read entire article

This article was posted: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 12:09 pm

---

---

---

---