Harsh Truths About Banking

The New York Times recently moved Joe Nocera from business news analysis to op-ed. In today's column  he salutes Robert G. Wilmers, head of M&T Bank. Read the column and you'll wish you had enough spare change to buy M&T shares.

Nocera includes a link to Wilmers' message to shareholders. It's worth reading. Sample:

In 1980, those with engineering degrees were paid 15 to 25 percent more than finance professionals with comparable education. By 2005, finance professionals with advanced degrees earned 30 to 40 percent more than engineers. It is no surprise then that nearly 25 percent of new employment-seeking graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology (MIT and Caltech) chose jobs in the financial sector during 2004-2009. When those with engineering and scientific acumen at the highest levels are drawn, instead, to the capital markets, one fears that innovations — and, indeed, new industries — may be stillborn, as a result.

 This month M&T completed its purchase of venerable but troubled Wilmington Trust.