John Varley, CEO of Barclays, gave a stark warning about the length and depth of the recession; by saying that house prices could fall by 30% to the end of 2009 compared with their peak, and that unemployment could top 7.5%.
He gave this warning during an interview to be broadcast on Sky News this evening. During the interview he expressed some remorse for the culpability of the banks in the ongoing collapse of the economy, noting that mortgages of 100% or more were madness.
The Times quotes him from the Sky interview:
"I think if you look at the players who were involved in what's happened to the world, I think there are quite a lot of players. They would include central banks, they would include governments — but they would certainly include the banks.
And the banks have to be prepared to have the humility to acknowledge that and accept it and to say sorry. They need to take their share of responsibility, we need to take our share of responsibility as an industry."
I aggree, now the banks and government have to work together to try to limit the damage that the recession will inflict and to kickstart the economy.
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