The remarks were aimed more at the managers of US banks but are universal in their application.

In his annual letter to investors in his Berkshire Hathaway company, Buffett wrote:

“It has not been shareholders who have botched the operations of some of our country’s largest financial institutions.

“Yet they have borne the burden, with 90% or more of the value of their holdings wiped out in most cases of failure . . . the chief executives and directors of the failed companies, however, have largely gone unscathed.

“Their fortunes may have been diminished by the disasters they oversaw but they still live in grand style . . . if their institutions and the country are harmed by their recklessness, they should pay a heavy price — one not reimbursable by the companies they’ve damaged or by insurance.”

Nice idea but bets on this one being adopted…?