The complex trust relationship between a bank and its client base can be explained through a rather unpretentious observation. For the sake of this argument as well as for the sake of simplicity I will use the Barclays Bank as an example. Barclays branches will be used to represent the contemporary financial machine that governs our society and the confidence it puts into the public.
Now think about it, you trust the bank with your financial future while the bank can’t trust you with a fucking £0.99 pen.
One of the UK’s oldest financial service providers, the Barclays Bank, if anyone isn’t familiar with it, has established itself as a major international player among other banking institutions. Currently listed as the world’s 25th largest company and the fourth largest financial provider, the Barclays Bank is also the second largest bank in the United Kingdom.
It seems that banks operate on two main principles. Barclays operational manual consists of convincing the public that their monetary funds are in safe hands (the customer is assured and reassured once again that the bank is his friend and advisor when it comes to financial matters) and that the institution itself holds an unmatched amount of trust in its customer base (”We value each and every client”, etc…). Marketing and advertisement campaigns are only there to support and reinforce this belief. This allows for an influx of monetary funds, which in-turn allow the bank to run their “little game”. Speaking in detailed terms, the whole idea behind a banking institution is the creation of two very distinct markets. The first one is the public market, the idea that your money will accumulate no matter what. The idea that money can and will be made without actual work input, just trust the institution with your finances and you will see a guaranteed return of investment in the long-run.
Market number two is quite different from the one mentioned above. Market number two derives its financial support from the first market, the market of the public, the money is simply used as a gambling resource of the financial firms. Huge monetary gains, backdoor deals and gains in assets are achieved by using the public’s money in what seems to be a casino night-out for the top executives.
The Barclays Bank, for example, has been involved in more than just a couple of controversies.
|Involvement with South Africa under apartheid| ~The Independent
|Financial support for the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe| ~Times Online
|Accusations of money laundering| ~The Independent
|Tax avoidance| ~The Guardian
It becomes evident that Barclays Bank is a shady institution involved in a number of backdoor deals, thus its deception of the public, its ability to create a false sense of security and legibility is absolutely crucial to the bank’s survival. Yet this faux-reality created by Barclays is nothing but a lie. The customer base, blindly following the bank, trusting it with a huge lump of money is treated like nothing but scum by this very institution.
"You shall never take away this immensely valuable piece of plastic. NEVER!"
The complicated nature of this one-sided trust relationship is particularly apparent as one takes a look at the stationary available at a typical Barclays Branch. For some mysterious reason, far above my understanding of the physical world, there are never, and I repeat never enough disposable pens at a Barclays Branch. The number of pens available is always lower than the total quantity of people present. This horrendous mismanagement of stationary resources results in the formation of queues that consist of clients desperately trying to reach this one pen available at the office.
Chained by a thin, metallic strap, connecting its button to a stone-like form placed on a desk, this modern writing instrument is guarded as if it were the last biro available to mankind. Now think about it, you trust the bank with your financial future while the bank can’t trust you with a fucking £0.99 pen.
EDIT 12/04/09
Alright guys you’ve got to fix your sarcasm detectors! This article is supposed to be sarcastic, I’m well aware of the intricate nature of the banking sector, so please don’t send me any more emails telling me how it’s not all “black and white” and how I should put down the tin-foil hat. Thanks.
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where have u been?!
anywho..
man the barclays cashmachine almost took my card. luckily there was someone at the bank working away and looking very annoyed