蜜芽传媒

Yesterday, the former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli having served his prison sentence for fraud, spoke on this programme about his crime of trading away 拢1.4 billion. I accept that I lied he said. I made a sequence of terrible choices. He鈥檚 accepted personal responsibility for what he did at the same time as saying that the culture of 鈥減rofit no matter what鈥� still prevails in the financial services industry. And he said that because of this culture, what he did could absolutely happen again.

I have to say I felt somewhat helpless when I watched his interview online. If he鈥檚 right, then even after all the suffering that economic recession has brought to the poorest in our society, there are, mostly young, traders who were maybe still at school in 2008 when it all fell apart, sitting at desks in London this morning, asking themselves the same questions as he did as they take positions in the international money markets: Where鈥檚 the line? How far can I go? Can I beat the guy sitting next to me 鈥� because frankly if I don鈥檛, I鈥檒l be sacked. If he鈥檚 right, there are surely some who are already in trouble, hoping that they won鈥檛 be found out. There are some staring at computers, feeling a certain thrill even as the screens go red, thinking 鈥� this rush is what I鈥檓 in it for 鈥� I can smash this - I can win.

And before we think that this is an alien instinct, before we get holier than thou, and while obviously not condoning Adoboli鈥檚 actions, shouldn鈥檛 we acknowledge that this so-called risk appetite is some part of what it is to be alive? Isn鈥檛 part of the difficulty of changing the 鈥減rofit no matter what鈥� culture because taking risks is essential to living a rewarding life.

Perhaps the nub of the question then is in whose service is the risk taken? Jesus told a story about the risk averse builder who sits down with his plans before building a house; but he also told stories about the importance of taking risks by multiplying talents rather than burying them safe in the ground. Kweku Adoboli鈥檚 crime was committed when risk and lying became an addiction. But to have a fundamentally healthy appetite for risk serves us well, and I think it鈥檚 intrinsic in particular to a life of faith and trust in God.

So perhaps a good question to ask ourselves is how, as with our other appetites, we can learn to control our greed? To have a sense of what is enough. And remember to ask ourselves in whose service we鈥檙e taking the risk in the first place. There鈥檚 a chance then to practise courage and become less not more risk averse - but in the service of the common good.

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