Cover not available
Part of
Manufacturing Dissent: Manipulation and counter-manipulation in times of crisis
Edited by Cornelia Ilie
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 339] 2024
► pp. 284–307

Chapter 9
Lessons learned?

The role of conventional arguments in avoiding blame and rebuilding trust in banking after the financial crisis

| University of Navarra
The 2008 financial crisis severely undermined public trust in banking systems, prompting calls for widespread reform. However, irregularities continued, leading to a further succession of scandals over the following years. We should therefore ask how banks justified the catastrophe and their failure to reform. This chapter examines two large UK-based banks: Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and HSBC. All the “letters to shareholders” published in their Annual Reports over 15 years are examined for commonplace arguments or “topoi” offered as justifications for their failure to comply with ethical standards. Five typical recurring arguments are analysed, with a particular focus on their use in subtle manipulations of public opinion to draw attention away from the scale and impact of corporate wrongdoing.
Keywords: topoi, banking, trust, financial crisis, CEO letter
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
  • 3.Sample and method
  • 4.Analysis
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 17 January 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.339.09bre
References (34)
References
Amernic, Joel, Russell Craig, and Dennis Tourish. 2010. Measuring and Assessing Tone at the Top Using Annual Report CEO Letters. Edinburgh: Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1991. On Rhetoric. A Theory of Civic Discourse. Tr. G. Kennedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Berrocal, Martina. 2024. “Maintaining political authority and credibility during the Covid-19 crisis: The case of Czech government press conferences.” In Manufacturing Dissent: Manipulation and counter-manipulation in times of crisis, edited by Cornelia Ilie. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bhatia, Vijay K. 2005. “Generic Patterns in Promotional Discourse.” In Persuasion Across Genres. A Linguistic Approach, edited by Helena Halmari, and Tuija Virtanen, 213–225. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Breeze, Ruth. 2012. “Legitimation in corporate discourse: oil corporations after Deepwater Horizon.” Discourse and Society 23 (1): 3–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2021a. “Understandable Public Anger. Legitimation in Banking after the 2008 Crisis.” Pragmatics 31 (4): 483–508. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2021b. “Bankers Communicating Wrongdoing and Failure: Apologies or Apologetics?” Łódź Papers in Pragmatics 17 (1–2), 43–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cortés de los Ríos, María Enriqueta, and Ángel Miguel Felices Lago. 2017. “A Cognitive-Axiological Approach to the Chairman’s Letter of the Leading Civil Aircraft Manufacturers.” Ibérica 34: 111–136.Google Scholar
Craig, Russell, and Joel Amernic. 2018. “Are There Language Markers of Hubris in CEO Letters to Shareholders?” Journal of Business Ethics 149: 973–986. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Curtius, Ernst. 1990. European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (English translation). Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Deszö, Cristian. 2009. “Scapegoating and Firm Reputation.” Robert H. Smith School Research Paper RHS 06–105. Available at: DOI logo (accessed 26/04/2022)Google Scholar
Eemeren, Frans H. van, ed. 2001. Crucial Concepts in Argumentation Theory. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garzone, Giuliana. 2004. “Annual Company Reports and CEO’s Letters: Discoursal Features and Cultural Markedness.” In Intercultural Aspects of Specialized Communication, edited by Christopher Candlin, and Maurizio Gotti, 311–342. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Hargie, Owen, Karyn Stapleton, and Dennis Tourish. 2010. “Interpretations of CEO Public Apologies for the Banking Crisis: Attributions of Blame and Avoidance of Responsibility.” Organization 17 (6): 721–742. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
House of Commons. 2018. Royal Bank of Scotland Bailout: 10 Years and Counting. Insight. [URL]
Ilie, Cornelia. 2017. “Leaders in Times of Change: Stereotypes and Counter-Stereotypes of Leadership Discourse.” In Challenging Leadership Stereotypes through Discourse: Power, Management and Gender, edited by Cornelia Ilie, and Stephanie Schnurr, 69–94. Cham: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2024. “Manipulating citizens’ beliefs and emotions: Consensus-seeking and dissensus-generating tactics in times of crisis.” In Manufacturing Dissent: Manipulation and counter-manipulation in times of crisis, edited by Cornelia Ilie. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. 2015. “Swiss Leaks: Murky Cash Sheltered by Bank Secrecy.” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Investigations. 8 February. [URL]
Macagno, Fabrizio, and Ana Carolina Trevisan. 2024. “Strategic communication in the Covid-19 pandemic: Uses of arguments and manipulative tactics in institutional social media communication.” In Manufacturing Dissent: Manipulation and counter-manipulation in times of crisis, edited by Cornelia Ilie. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Malavasi, Donatella. 2007. “Lexical Analysis of Implicit Promotional Devices in Bank Annual Reports.” ILCEA 9: 171–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Orts, María de los Ángeles, Ruth Breeze, and Maurizio Gotti. 2017. Power, Persuasion and Manipulation in Specialised Genres. Bern: Peter Lang. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Östman, Jan-Ola. 2005. “Persuasion as Implicit Anchoring. The Case of Collocations.” In Persuasion Across Genres. A Linguistic Approach, edited by Helena Halmari, and Tuija Virtanen, 183–212. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Paglieri, Fabio, and John Woods. 2011. “From Reconstruction to Understanding.” Argumentation 25 (2): 127–139. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perelman, Chaim, and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. 1969. The New Rhetoric. A Treatise on Argumentation. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press.Google Scholar
Roth, Felix. 2009. The Effect of the Financial Crisis on Systemic Trust. CEPS Working Document 316.Google Scholar
Toulmin, Stephen. 2003. The Uses of Argument (updated edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vaara, Eero, Janne Tienari, and Juha Laurila. 2006. “Pulp and Paper Fiction: On the Discursive Legitimation of Global Industrial Restructuring.” Organization Studies 27: 789–810. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vignone, Mary Jean. 2012. “Family, Buildings, and Wars: Organizational Conceptual Metaphors.” OD Practitioner 44: 34–37.Google Scholar
Walton, Douglas, and Fabrizio Macagno. 2010. “Wrenching from Context: The Manipulation of Commitments.” Argumentation 24 (3): 283–317. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Walton, Douglas, Christopher Reed, and Fabrizio Macagno. 2008. Argumentation Schemes. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilson, Paul. 1993. “The Fiction of Corporate Scapegoating.” Journal of Business Ethics 12: 779–784. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, Rudolf de Cillia, Martin Reisigl, and Karin Liebhart. 1999. The Discursive Construction of National Identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Žagar, Igor. 2010. “Topoi in Critical Discourse Analysis.” Łodz Papers in Pragmatics 6 (1): 3–27.Google Scholar
Zompetti, Joseph P. 2006. “The Value of Topoi.” Argumentation: An International Journal of Reasoning 20: 15–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Ilie, Cornelia
2024. Crisis manipulation. In Manufacturing Dissent [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 339], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.