The appropriate banker and the need for ontological re-positioning

•This note argues for an ontological re-positioning in bank management research.•In focus is judgement, which implies consideration of means and ends simultaneously.•Implications for research are discussed.

SummaryThe bankers of this world have failed miserably. Economists have not fared much better. Top managers have failed to know what was going on in their organization (or worse). At lower levels of banks employees have failed to realize that they were gambling with other people's money. Economists have not found it suitable to include data on the behaviour of markets during crisis (Gorton, 2012). Professionally and morally the financial crisis is a disaster. The problems for regulators and scholars are profound. There are compelling reasons to seek new bearings by re-positioning the banker as a responsible person in a socially responsible industry. Such re-positioning is an exercise in ontological reasoning on “the appropriate banker”. It uses actor-network-theory, dialogue studies, virtue ethics, and a socio-cultural approach to learn to build a model to guide observation of bankers in action. In her practice the main risk for the appropriate banker is ‘disconnect’ (not listed among the risks bank management systems should model).