In October 2012, HSBC executive Irene Dorner addressed a crowd of 600 bankers, financial executives, and lobbyists at an industry conference. Four years from the financial crisis, banking industry profits had rebounded, but Dorner, recently named “the most powerful woman in banking,” warned her colleagues to avoid complacency. “Our standing hasn’t recovered in step with better balance sheets,” she said. “What we are facing is scrutiny of our behavior, our decisions, and our actions. People are asking us, ‘What on earth are you thinking, or indeed were you thinking at all? Where did you leave your moral compass?’”

While the markets have been quite forgiving of America’s banking industry, public opinion has proved less elastic. An August 2013 survey by American Banker found US banks to be deeply unpopular — far less popular than big pharmaceutical companies, energy companies, and even airlines. Americans don’t seem ready to forgive banks for the financial crisis, predatory lending, and their profit-before-people business model that is still decimating American communities.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, Wells Fargo, the nation’s most profitable bank, suffered from what Dorner might call a “moral compass” deficit. The bank had been accused of targeting black and Latino customers for higher fees and riskier mortgages. By 2012, Wells Fargo was facing bias suits from the NAACP, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and the cities of Memphis and Baltimore.