Flash. The year 2008. Lehman Brothers go down and set off a global financial crisis. Subprime loans that were sliced, repackaged and sold on to others played a key role in the crash – a process known as securitisation. The securitised products were very risky partly because the underlying house loans often were issued with almost no documentation of the clients. But in the instances when bank employees happened to know the clients, lending practices were better. And the securitised products at least slightly more solid as a consequence.

Flash. City of London, autumn 2014. Several global universal banks such as Barclays, UBS and Citigroup are fined hundreds of millions of euros because their foreign exchange traders had rigged international benchmarks rates, pushing the spreads to maximise their gain. These illegal practices had been going on for several years without any supervisors noticing. How did they finally come to light? An employee blew the whistle and reported on the breaches.

What is the x-factor that these three flashbacks have in common? As we go into 2015, the x-factor – the employees – will be a necessary pillar for constructing a growth-oriented and stable financial system in Europe.

Investor and consumer protection will be a central building block in this architecture. Because retail investors need to feel confident that their assets are handled in a responsible way – in 2013 only 35 percent of them trusted investment services providers to respect consumer protection rules. And as the EBF President Oudea says above: client satisfaction and trust depend on the local bank and the bankers.

But trust is clearly lacking. And trust is created in relationships – which depend on people. Trust is achieved when financial needs are catered to by employees who have enough time, resources and knowledge to provide good quality financial services. Likewise, finance employees can play a key role in safeguarding that financial institutions behave in accordance with the law, as seen above. Employees create the trust that is needed as a foundation for the financial sectors of the future. But if the sectors continue to cut down on staff, how is trust to be recreated?

So for NFU, the future is not without its challenges. These are some of the ones we will take on during 2015. As the European supervisors develop new rules in 400+ areas, NFU must safeguard that our key wins in Europe are reflected in the details. As the new capital markets union is being developed, we must take part as a vital stakeholder to make sure that finance employees are part of the equation and that financial services get back to supporting growth of jobs and real economic development. And as the insurance sector continues to be regulated NFU will work to get the rules and recommendations as good as possible for employees.

We are now almost halfway through the second decade of the 21st century – a decade which has fundamentally redefined the way we think about financial services and markets. The role they should play in taking us forward should be one where financial services support job creation – both within and outside the financial sector – and help fund sustainable economic growth whilst generating stable and long-term returns.

I wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Arvid Ahrin, General Secretary

@ahrinNFU