The unacceptable face of modern capitalism. That's a phrase you will have heard a lot recently. It's also one that you are going to hear a lot more in the context of BHS, of our new prime minister's campaign to improve corporate behaviour, and of the financial industry's attempt to have a go at doing something about executive pay (the Investment Association has come up with a few feeble suggestions).
However, you are unlikely to hear it in the context of what I suspect historians will see as the really unacceptable face of modern capitalism the way it is distorted by our institutions. This week RBS sent 1.3 million customers a letter notifying them of a change in their terms and conditions: they can now be charged interest on cash they have on deposit at the bank. That isn't going to happen right now. But it makes it clear that our banks are taking seriously a possibility that was considered totally nuts only a few years ago that the Bank of England could cut rates below zero.
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