This week the world’s leading banks – represented by the Institute of International Finance – concurred with a conclusion long ago reached by the rest of the world: they screwed up, the credit crisis is largely their fault, and everybody else is suffering for their errors. The admission may not be enough to prevent a dangerous backlash.

Bankers may have realised, too late, the dangers of the banker caricature many people now believe. The popular perception is of an industry populated by clever crooks who manufactured toxic derivatives of subprime loans, repackaged them to look succulent, and sold them to greedy fools.