Two great reads on banking.
In "Let's make a deal", Robert Jenkins of the Bank of England Financial Policy Committee offers a (personal) deal:
"…the best solution is to set the minimum for loss absorbing capital at a level which discourages
recklessness and protects the public purse when it happens. Many leading academics and economists,
place the optimum level for such equity at 20 percent. In return we can pare back the rule book – drastically."
A fascinating read, with some good highlighting of commonly reported factual errors.
In the Economist, Buttonwood goes all out:
"Bankers get such generous payoffs because it is in their contracts and airtight contracts are needed to attract the best people. But is this right? The BBC just appointed a director-general on a salary that is one-third less than that of the previous incumbent. Even so, there was no shortage of qualified applicants for the post. Back to the first rule: in banking, the laws of supply and demand do not apply."
http://www.economist.com/node/21558584
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2012/speech593.pdf