Stephen Hester: Banking culture change 'will take a generation' But he added: "We need to understand that people are ... saying here is an industry with a cultural problem. But culture changes over a generation, not on the turn of a sixpence. But he stressed that industry incidents, such as the Libor scandal - for which Barclays is the only bank so far to have been fined by global regulators - are not helpful. I find some of the behaviour that has been exposed sad and aggravating because the vast majority of bank staff are honest people who work hard to serve their customers. Likewise, the vast majority of things that banks do are done relatively well and competently," he said. He also pointed out that problems in the industry tend to be the responsibility of a few: "Often reputational hits are caused by small numbers of wrongdoers who are not illustrative of the wider base of staff." The interview also covers his thoughts on the bank's relationship with the Treasury and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, as well as a robust defence of the bank's lending policies. In a personal admission, the banker admits he has not enjoyed his own high profile: "I was not ready for the transfer of my profile from business pages to other pages of newspapers, and that was upsetting. It's the least attractive bit of my job. The comments made in the interview follow on from those Mr Hester made last week in a speech at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch banking conference. He told banking analysts and investors: "The pendulum has swung, society has a different attitude to and determination to make sure that banks behave in a different way and improve their reputation." His comments in part build on those of Sir Philip Hampton, the RBS chairman, who in May admitted the bank's investors would not regain wealth "in my lifetime." An RBS spokesman declined to comment further.