Another banker apologises: this time it’s Blankfein

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of the greatest vampire squid bank of all, Goldman Sachs, has issued an unprecedented apology for the firm’s role in some of the activities leading to the financial crisis.

"We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret," Blankfein said at a conference in New York. "We apologise."

While Blankfein was non-specific about the precise nature of Goldman's wrong-doings - this was more a blanket mea culpa than any specific admission - growing criticism of the bank, the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history, has clearly hit a nerve.

Goldman Sachs, he said, is "very concerned" about the criticism because "our reputation is very important to us". He confirmed he wished he had not told the Sunday Times in a recent interview that Goldman did "God's work". The remark, which Blankfein says was intended in jest, has been widely seized on by critics of the institution.

Spurning advice that it should give away $1bn to charity to offset public anger over more than $20bn in profits so soon after receiving a government bail-out, Goldman is preparing to invest $500m in new businesses overseen by a panel co-chaired by Warren Buffett.

But will $500m be enough to quieten the critics? Almost certainly not. At a demonstration in Washington yesterday organised by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), protestors demanded the bank use its 2009 profit to protect foreclosed home-owners across the nation. (Goldman famously sold off its subprime assets before the crash.)

"Have you no decency?" Andy Stern, president of the SEIU, yelled. "Goldman and Blankfein seem to worship no God but the almighty dollar."

But how far are bank leaders prepared to go in accepting responsibility and making amends? Probably not far if a big sorry can suffice. Two weeks ago John Reed, who helped create Citigroup, the world's largest and financially unwieldy bank, repeatedly apologised for the mergers that led to its creation.

"I'm sorry," he told Bloomberg. "These are people I love and care about. You could imagine emotionally it's not easy to see what's happened."

How long the bank bosses are going to keep offering themselves up as punchbags to quell public anger is unclear. In a couple of weeks bonuses are likely to start flowing. Bankers and their wives will presumably start to spend and the money will cheer retailers and property agents. Because everyone, bankers on down, worships the mighty Christmas bonus.