Conference Preview - Industry reputation - What's in a name?

(From Post Magazine)

After he has been surreptitiously traduced by the conniving Iago, Othello's loyal lieutenant, Cassio, cries: 'O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.'

During the past few years, some of our leading financial institutions must have felt much the same. I was always taught that it was undignified and wrong to kick a man when he was down; yet the detractors of the insurance and financial services sectors never learned that lesson.

Invisible earnings

The irony is that the country has never needed the sector more. Our expertise in financial services gives a massive boost to our invisible earnings overseas, when our visible balance seems to be in structural deficit.

And I'd like to know who else is going to dig the country out of the notorious pensions' black hole. No one denies any of this, yet the feeling still prevails the sector is not quite to be trusted.

Sadly, while it can take a generation or more to earn a positive reputation, it takes no time to lose it. The alleged mis-selling scandals, in particular, have left a bitter legacy; yet the simple fact remains that the sector would not be contributing so massively to our external trade balance were it not held in the highest possible esteem abroad. It is well thought of - and deserves to be.