Depends what you mean by "profits are great". When Goldman or Lloyds report profits of $10bn they get slated for massive profiteering. But a profit figure alone

Depends what you mean by "profits are great". When Goldman or Lloyds report profits of $10bn they get slated for massive profiteering. But a profit figure alone is meaningless. The number you're after is profit divided by market cap. Investors want a return on their shareholding: they want dividends. If a company has a market cap of $200bn a $10bn profit is 5% return. And not all that will be paid as dividends, much WILL be re-invested. So maybe the investor earns a return of just 2%. And if investors don't make a return, they'll bail out. Stock will fall, the bank will suffer, jobs will be lost. So it's important a bank does make these "big" profits. It's all very well to wring your hands and demand investment in an area that you think is worthwhile, but that profit has got to feed a lot of mouths. Relatively speaking the profits are NOT that big. Perhaps bank leaders _are_ being short-sighted about this, but it's a whole lot more complex than bankers filling their pockets to get rich in the short term. And from personal experience I can assure you one thing: they will invest wherever they think they'll get the best return. Perhaps that isn't aging IT systems.