27 FEBRUARY 1988, Page 19

No-one to blame

N. C. Pearson (Letters, page 23) reason- ably enquires whether bankers who lend and lose fortunes ever lose their jobs, and if not, why not? My theory is that time-lag protects them. By the time their loans have gone bad they are playing golf on the bank's ample pension. It is the City's equivalent to being Minister of Aviation you cancel the ruinous plane your prede- cessor ordered, and order another ruinous plane of your own, and it is never the fault of the minister of the day. Losses on securities business, by contrast, come through quickly enough (witness NatWest) to get senior people sacked. Self-protective bankers should avoid this.