It has been a similar story in Europe this week. Holland's Rabobank was fined $1bn for its part in the Libor rigging scandal and saw its boss fall on his sword. Deutsche Bank put aside €1.2bn for litigation costs. And UBS was ordered to add to its regulatory capital to protect against "operational risks". That, of course, is just the direct financial cost; the potential cost to these banks in terms of reputation is immeasurable, as we explain in this week's cover feature. Banks, it seems, are set to remain public enemy number one for some years to come.
They do, though, have an emerging challenger for that title - the UK's power companies are doing a rather excellent job of alienating their customers at the moment. This week, bosses of the big six UK power companies have been up before Parliament vigorously defending themselves from charges of profiteering, and specifically the charge that the rise in household energy prices do not, according to Ofgem, correspond that closely to movements in wholesale energy costs.
The industry also complains that the mandatory cost of 'going green' is just as responsible for rising energy bills as energy prices - and that, naturally, is the government's fault, not theirs, as is the huge investment in generating capacity required just to keep the lights on. Besides which, says Angela Knight of Energy UK - the trade body that represents the firms powering our homes - they don't make that much money anyway, just "four or five pence in the pound." Ever get the feeling you're being held to ransom?
You will remember, of course, that Ms Knight once did much the same job on behalf of the banks - which unbeknownst to most of us were busily gaming the global financial market even as their champion declared Libor "a reliable benchmark". And, as the scale of PPI mis-selling redress has shown, she has proved a diligent defender of the indefensible.
The case against utilities is less clear, of course. But that may be because, like banks, power companies have become too big to understand. And if the industry's regulators can't fully explain what's going on within them, what hope do customers have, or for that matter shareholders? Sadly, I have no choice but to be the former - but with a regulatory dogfight on the horizon that could force energy utilities to become more transparent, I'm certainly in no rush to become one of the latter.
