But can you trust the bank after what’s happened in recent years? To answer this question, we need to understand what it is that banks do today.

Since the 70s, the financial market has become a market place, where banks and financial institutions buy and sell financial risks from and to each other.

As for example the trade in so-called RMBS’s (Residential mortgage-backed securities) pooled mortgages or CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations) other pooled loans that are not mortgages, with each other.

Your bank sells financial products to you that can be bought and sold in the financial market.

The bank employee is thus a seller of bank products. It means you as a buyer have to be informed about what it is you are buying from them.

You have a responsibility and obligation towards yourself, your family and society on how your money is invested and managed. You can’t blame anyone else if something goes wrong. It is your future, your responsibility and above all your money.

To fulfill this obligation, you need to build a Trust Pyramid. Trust is the tip of the pyramid, and Understanding and Awareness make up the base. Understanding has to do with business and finance agreements, what they are and how they work. Awareness concerns human behavior, how people function.

Without understanding and awareness you have no basis for your trust, because trust begins with you.

Start by asking (again and again if necessary) until you understand. Ask the bank sales person to use words and examples you are familiar with. Do not accept words and acronyms like residential mortgage-backed securities or CDO’s if you do not know what they mean and stand for.

Ask until unmasked.

You can trust the bank. It does what it should do, which is sell financial products.

The question is: Can you trust yourself? / Ulf Egestrand