It's easy to sympathize with the Dutch government but a few tests aren't going to make an impact on greed, which is the problem. Beyond money there's little else that registers with bankers today. Any sense of moral obligation has been gone for years so it won't register with them. As for tests, the bankers who got us into this crisis are hardly stupid people. Greed has and continues to pay pretty well in banking. When the bankers still get payouts after delivering poor numbers that aren't radically different from pay from big numbers that were false, what do you expect? Cute idea but it completely misses the mark.
The Dutch finance ministry confirmed Thursday that it intends to implement a banking test within the next year that would be a requirement for serving on a board in the sector.
No one will be immune — including the previous finance minister, Gerrit Zalm, who is now running the nationalized operations of ABN Amro.
A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Wouter Bos said the test will be something like "a driver's license for bankers."
But she also said that much is yet to be determined, including who will draft the test and who will administer it.
