Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

Bankers likely to return to Davos

Christopher Werth Jan 25, 2010
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Bankers likely to return to Davos

Christopher Werth Jan 25, 2010
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: Once a year, the alpine ski resort of Davos, Switzerland fills with presidents, prime ministers and celebrities — all there for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. Wouldn’t you think Wall Street’s top bankers would be there, too? From London, Marketplace’s Christopher Werth says that’s a good question.


Christopher Werth: Last year, officials from top banks in the U.S. and Europe were conspicuously absent in Davos. They couldn’t risk being seen living it up with Bono and Bill Clinton while cashing in on taxpayer-funded bailouts.

Andrew Hilton: It’s all people who are larger than life, swishing around being terribly important to one another. You come out of it, I’m told, feeling like you’ve been licked all over by the rich and famous.

Andrew Hilton is with the CSFI think tank. With Obama’s newest proposals for changing the way banks do business, Hilton says they can’t afford to miss the chance to rub shoulders with regulators and politicians.

Hilton: Davos isn’t just a big conference. Davos is a thousand small meetings, most of which are informal, most of which never make it outside Davos, really.

Bankers will likely use those more casual run-ins to quietly press for regulations that are much lighter than those currently being called for.

In London, I’m Christopher Werth for Marketplace.

Radke: And Marketplace will be in Davos all this week covering that economic conference.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.