Josef Ackermann’s acceptance speech

Lifetime achievement award – Josef Ackermann: Banking industry cannot shy away from making tough choices

I must say, the last couple of years have felt like a lifetime. I never thought in my 30-plus years in banking that I would see such enormous changes as those that our industry has witnessed in the past 24 months. We’ve learnt some tough lessons: the risks in the banking system were greater, and more complex, than anything we imagined.