Are banking CEOs finally getting it? The importance of building trust.

It's quite nice to blog something more positive about the banks.

Yesterday Barclay's CEO Antony Jenkins announced that he was waiving his £2.75m 2013 bonus due to the many problems still being experienced at the bank. However he referred in his address to "progress they had made to rebuild trust".

In the same week Antonio Horta-Osorio, the CEO of the Lloyds Banking Group will state "Rebuilding a sound reputation founded on the highest standards of responsible behaviour is key. But words alone are not enough to change public perception and regain trust. We must provide meaningful commitments to allow ourselves to be independently measure against against them." He was announcing a number of initiatives including the aim of 40% of the top 5,000 roles to be held by women in 2020. So it looks like these two get that action speaks louder than words.

These two examples demonstrate a new "tone from the top". It would be really something if the CEOs start to actively compete against each other in terms of who can be the best responsible leader and, more importantly, how soon it will be before customers really see improved outcomes from this leadership - after all that is what it should really be about.