Studio guest: Wolfgang Gerke
- 00:09:50
- DW-World
Studio guest: Wolfgang Gerke
Our financial markets expert Wolfgang Gerke, President of the Bavarian Financial Center in Munich will join us to discuss the situation. DW-TV: In Germany alone, some 50,000 people are thought to have held Lehman Brothers certificates in their investment portfolios. They lost a lot of money and want it back. What do reports like this one do to you? Wolfgang Gerke: I feel that we have to learn the lesion by the financial crisis. Bankers lost so much of their reputation that we have to change the financial world and therefore we need more regulation and perhaps its a good idea to get a an institution looking for us as a client of the banks if everything is running the right way and president Obama is looking in that direction. DW-TV: According to a recent survey by the Association of German Banks, 52 percent of the population have lost trust in the banking system. But only 7 percent have lost trust in their local bank. W hich is interesting - because every local bank is part of the very system that's lost credibility. How do you explain the difference in people's attitude? Wolfgang Gerke: We have many regional banks in German, savings banks and Genossenchanftbanken, that means these are banks being very close to the client and they have, perhaps, from that side a better reputation then the whole system. I’m quite astonished, I have said the real side should be much worse. DW-TV: Have banks learned something how do they deal with the crisis? Wolfgang Gerke: There are banks not learning the lesion they had to take from that financial crisis. If you take Goldman-Sacks for example they want to pay this expensive bonuses and that’s the wrong policy. I have nothing against this bonus system but we have to take in mind that banks need more reserves more equity in the crisis. Otherwise the taxpayers has to pay for them and therefore its quite important that the banks will change their policies. In German its a little better. But there the Landesbanken need to get a new model and there has changed extremely nothing. DW-TV: Very soon will take place in Pittsburg world leaders will bring forward their ideas of how to regulate the financial markets but obviously that will only work if the banks play ball. Will they? Wolfgang Gerke: The lessen we have to take the banks themselves will not change their policies enough, therefore we need a regulator and this can only be an international regulator and the G-20 meeting is, therefore , a very important meeting and we cannot do it in Germany or France we must do it in the whole world. DW-TV: Wolfgang Gerke, thank you very much for joining us. (Interview Monika Jones)
DW-World | September 15, 2009
