He certainly didn't hold back. 'They are rotten to the core' was how Britain's secretary of state for business described 'institutions like Barclays Capital' in an interview last week.
The bank had just been fined GBP290million (HK$3.5billion) for falsifying its submissions on Libor, the London interbank offered rate, one of the core interest rates used around the world. More shocking was the discovery that Barclays was not the only bank which has been found acting fraudulently. At least a dozen other banks are implicated. Nor was it just trying to manipulate Britain's key interest rate. It had also been trying to fiddle the markets dealing in interest rates for the euro and yen, too. And nor was this a one-off event. The market manipulation had been going on for years.
Despite the heavy fine, Barclays' woes are far from over. It now faces a huge number of civil cases, in the US, Europe and elsewhere, which are likely to cost it millions more. Along with many other banks, it is also now being investigated for mis-selling a range of financial products too, including complex hedge instruments to small British businesses, a number of which were forced into bankruptcy.
Importantly, Barclays has not blamed a few rogue traders for its woes. It was a failing of the bank as a whole, its chief executive said.
It is easy to dismiss this story as just another banking scandal. Yet this would be mistaken.
As Britain's business secretary so eloquently put it, there is something really 'rotten' in our banking system, something putrid and unhealthy. There are too many of these scandals, too many banks involved, too many fake apologies and too many hefty compensation payments, reluctantly given.
Bankers acting fraudulently need to be brought to justice. They need to face criminal charges, not civil ones, and put in jail. They are guilty of manipulating markets, creating financial bubbles for their own gain and of selling products, which have driven millions of people around the world into penury. That deserves more than a voluntarily forgone bonus or a change at top management.