Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has called for leaders of failed banks to face punishment.
The "CEO and directors should suffer" when banks get into trouble, Buffett argued. Otherwise, it "teaches the lesson that if you run a bank and screw it up, you're still a rich guy, the world still goes on."
Buffet added that he is wary of investing in banking stocks because "the incentives in bank regulation are so messed up and so many people have an interest in having them messed up."
Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway's vice-chairman, echoed these sentiments. "I don't think having a bunch of bankers, all of whom are trying to get rich, leads to good things," Munger said. "I think bankers should be more like an engineer, avoiding trouble rather than trying to get rich … It's a contradiction in values."
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