{"id":10432,"date":"2011-06-12T15:21:03","date_gmt":"2011-06-12T14:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=10432"},"modified":"2011-06-12T15:22:01","modified_gmt":"2011-06-12T14:22:01","slug":"from-a-quaker-bank-to-bob-diamond-what-happened-to-barclays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2011\/06\/12\/from-a-quaker-bank-to-bob-diamond-what-happened-to-barclays\/","title":{"rendered":"From a Quaker Bank to Bob Diamond – what happened to Barclays?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was at the Norwich Meeting House of the Quakers this morning.<\/p>\n

It' s a lovely building, and a good meeting. Outside there's a memorial to Elizabeth Fry who was a member of the Quakers in Norwich and attended at that meeting.<\/p>\n

But there's another part to its story worth recalling. This was also the Quaker\u00a0meeting\u00a0of the Gurney\u00a0family who founded the bank of that name. As Wikipedia notes <\/a>(and I think this fair comment):<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Quaker<\/a> Gurneys were renowned for their honesty, reliability, and fair dealings \u2013 so people entrusted them their money for safe keeping.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 1896 Gurney's bank became part of Barclays.<\/p>\n

Could anyone really say the same of Bod Diamond's Barclays Bank? Honesty - when hiding in tax havens? \u00a0Reliability, \u00a0except in exploiting? And fair dealing, where I hardly need start?<\/p>\n

What changed? That's easy to explain. The ethics went. The pursuit of greed took over.<\/p>\n

The same is true of other former great Quaker businesses, like Cadbury's.<\/p>\n

And the message is simple, and one we have to heed if capitalism is not to tear itself apart: ethics have to be at the core of business or it causes harm not good.<\/p>\n

So how do we put them back? And how does business hear and understand that it is in its own self interest to do this?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was at the Norwich Meeting House of the Quakers this morning. It’ s a lovely building, and a good meeting. Outside there’s a memorial
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