Banks bothered but buoyed

A year after the global financial crisis erupted, is it business as usual for banks in the Middle East? Their counterparts in the West have been battered and otherwise have gone through a lot. As Western bankers marked the first anniversary of the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008, which triggered the crisis and bank failures around America continue. At the same time, the authorities in the US warn that in some cases the bad old ways that led to major problems are still there. A recent twist in the changed Western financial scene is the seeming tilt in attitudes away from banking secrecy, with the Swiss financial giant UBS turning over client records to the American government. More such changes are no doubt on the way; otherwise, we may be in for another unpleasant greed-driven episode of financial collapse a few years down the road. So