Financial security

Why putting bank bosses behind bars is still nigh on impossible

US attorney general Loretta Lynch declared last week that five major banks had engaged in “brazenly illegal behaviour” on a “near-daily basis” in rigging foreign exchange markets. But no sooner had she imposed record £2.6bn fines on the banks and extracted guilty pleas from four of them – including Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays – than she was facing questions about why no charges were brought against individuals.