To err is human
No contrition for mis-selling bonds
JOHN DRYDEN, a 17th-century English poet, wrote that repentance was the virtue of weak minds and the want of power to sin. Italian bankers would seem to agree. Most of them are not at all sorry for the damage caused by the sale of bonds that turned out to be rotten to many of their retail customers.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “To err is human”
From the July 24th 2004 edition
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