This week we have some of the world’s biggest banks recording staggering, record profits – despite this there are serious challenges heading the banks way in the short-term and consumer trust is just the start of it. As early as July 2008 we started to hear serious grumblings from consumers groups, customer advocates and politicians on how banks had “lost their way”. This loss of confidence and consumer backlash forced politicians in the US, EU and elsewhere to look at so-called “Robin Hood Tax” where bankers who took huge bonuses would be taxed at a higher rate. Undoubtedly, the proprietary trading post-GFC off the back of cheap government money (TARP, etc) as the markets reverted “to the mean” created the opportunity for arbitrage profits and subsequently huge bonuses. The theory that the bank bailouts would free up credit for the average man on the street was quickly lost as banks chose risk-adverse customer lending strategies. But now the banks face a quandary…