In a way, I get the shock and dismay that greets the exec layoffs cycling through Uptown Charlotte. Usually it takes something really, really outlandish to get kicked out the door of the still clubby banking world. But that is exactly what is happening at BofA and Wachovia right now.
And in a roundabout, perhaps even unfair way, the folks being let go did do something outlandish — namely be part of organizations that abandoned basic banking safety and soundness to chase short-term profits, not to mention exec bonuses attached to those profits. They might not have been directly responsible for those decisions, but the organization was setting itself up for a massive fall nonetheless.
