DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Leading world bankers at theWorld Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,
are on the defensive amiddemands to regulate their industry more closely following a financialcrisis that
has battered large chunks of the global economy.Bankershave been widely blamed for the financial crisis that
has dramaticallyreduced the living standards of many in the developed world, whetherthey’re in work or not.
A United Nations body said Tuesday that thenumber of unemployed around the world will rise to a record 202
millionthis year with many countries, particularly in Europe, struggling topost any growth at
all."We’re doing the right thing," Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co.,
said Wednesday.And in defiant note, he insisted that "there will be a financial services sector"
whether critics like it or not.Dimon,who last week took a 50 percent cut in his pay packet following
amultibillion dollar trading loss in London, insisted that the worldneeds banks so that people can get on
with their everyday lives ofbuying a house and growing their businesses. Without banks, Dimon
said,governments couldn’t function.Banks have spent much of the pastfew years in a bunker, getting on with
shoring up their tarnishedfinances — and that’s spelled difficulties for many in need to get theirhands on
money they need. One solution being espoused around the worldis to siphon off risky trading activities from
traditional banking.AxelWeber, a former central banker and current chairman of Swiss-based bankUBS,
acknowledged the "excesses" of the past but said it was pointlessto debate breaking up
banks."Where does the financial sectorstart or stop?" he asked. "It’s so intricately linked
that we shouldn’tthrow out the baby with the bathwater …. We all provide valuablesocial
functions."Both spoke in Davos at the annual gathering ofmore than 2,500 corporate and political
leaders. The forum, like theworld’s bankers, has been accused of clinging to a capitalist model thathas been
largely blamed for the wave of financial meltdowns over thepast few years and their ensuing recessions.At
the event in thesnow-coated Alpine resort, business elites gather in luxury hotels andcostly parties to make
deals and debate the world’s problems. Criticssay they don’t solve enough of them.Among those questioning
thebankers’ assertion that the financial sector is doing fine and doing itsjob was Min Zhu, deputy managing
director of the International MonetaryFund."The financial sector is too big," he said. "The
products are too complicated. Transparency is not there."AndreiKostin, chairman of Russia’s VTB Bank
argued it was governments who ranup excess debts — and not banks — and were largely to blame for
recenteconomic troubles."We should have better regulations but not necessarily more," he
said.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.