The two most senior figures in the Church of England have condemned the behaviour of City traders, and questioned their value to society.
The two most senior figures in the Church of England have condemned the practices of some financial traders.
Writing in the Spectator, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams criticises those who buy and sell debt solely for their own profit.
Writing in the Spectator, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams attacked "paper transactions with no concrete outcome beyond profit for traders".
It follows a speech to bankers by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.
When such trading went badly, it caused "real and crippling damage", he said.
In it, he called share traders who cashed in on falling prices "bank robbers and asset strippers".
In an earlier speech, Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu called share traders who cashed in on falling prices "bank robbers and asset strippers".
Capitalist mythology
'Levels of fiction'
In the piece which is due to be published in the magazine on Friday, Dr Williams attacks "unbridled capitalism" and defends the socialist theorist Karl Marx's critiques of the system.
Dr Williams focused on the financial industry's trading of debts, which he said had "without accountability... been the motor of astronomical financial gain for many in recent years".
He said it had become - much as Marx suggested - "a kind of mythology" in which people invested their faith, wrongly assuming it would work for the common good.
He said the current financial crisis "exposes the element of basic unreality in the situation - the truth that almost unimaginable wealth has been generated by equally unimaginable levels of fiction, paper transactions with no concrete outcome beyond profit for traders".
He urges that "short-selling" and some other financial practices be banned and wrote: "It is no use pretending that the financial world can maintain indefinitely the degree of exemption from scrutiny and regulation that it has got used to."
The biggest challenge in the present crisis is whether we can recover some sense of the connection between money and material reality Dr Rowan WilliamsArchbishop of Canterbury
He accepts the need and desire for entrepreneurship but claims it is not the only way to create wealth. He denounces the notion that it is as a type of "fundamentalism".
The archbishop continued: "Given that the risk to social stability overall in these processes has been shown to be so enormous, it is no use pretending that the financial world can maintain indefinitely the degree of exemption from scrutiny and regulation that it has got used to."
On Wednesday Dr John Sentamu told bankers the market system seems to have taken rules "from Alice in Wonderland".
He backed the UK's recent ban on short-selling - in which traders bet on share prices falling - and said Britain and other governments "should not lose their nerve as they look to identify a few more targets".
The Archbishop also noted the contrast between the US government bank bail-out and the lack of funding for efforts to reduce poverty.
Dr Williams acknowledged that "loosening up a financial regime" was sometimes needed to foster enterprise and create wealth to "draw whole populations out of poverty".
We find ourselves in a market system which seems to have taken its rules of trade from Alice in Wonderland Dr John SentamuArchbishop of York
"But it is a sort of fundamentalism to say that this alone will secure stable and just outcomes everywhere."
He said: "The biggest challenge in the present crisis is whether we can recover some sense of the connection between money and material reality - the production of specific things, the achievement of recognisably human goals that have something to do with a shared sense of what is good for the human community in the widest sense."
One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable Dr John SentamuArchbishop of York
In a speech to bankers on Wednesday, Dr Sentamu said: "We find ourselves in a market system which seems to have taken its rules of trade from Alice in Wonderland."
Lloyds TSB announced last week it had agreed a £12.2bn takeover of HBOS after shares in the latter plummeted.
Lloyds TSB announced last week it had agreed a £12.2bn takeover of HBOS after shares in the latter plummeted.
Since the takeover, many commentators have criticised traders who sold borrowed shares below their current price, betting that prices would fall further before they bought them back.
Since the takeover, many commentators have criticised traders who sold borrowed shares below their current price, betting that prices would fall further before they bought them back.
The Financial Services Authority has temporarily banned the practice, known as short selling.
"To a bystander like me, those who made £190m deliberately underselling the shares of HBOS, in spite of a very strong capital base, and drove it into the arms of Lloyds TSB, are clearly bank robbers and asset strippers," Dr Sentamu told the annual dinner of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers.
"To a bystander like me, those who made £190m deliberately underselling the shares of HBOS, in spite of a very strong capital base, and drove it into the arms of Lloyds TSB, are clearly bank robbers and asset strippers," Dr Sentamu told the annual dinner of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers.
"We find ourselves in a market system which seems to have taken its rules of trade from Alice in Wonderland, " he said.
Poverty effort
Poverty goals
The archbishop also noted the contrast between the US government bank bail-out and the lack of funding for efforts to reduce poverty.
Dr Sentamu noted the contrast between the bailouts to banks and the lack of funding for efforts to eradicate poverty.
The US Treasury has proposed a fund worth up to $700bn (£382bn) to buy back much of the bad debt held by banks and other financial institutions.
The US Treasury has proposed a fund worth up to $700bn (£382bn) to buy back much of the bad debt held by banks and other financial institutions.
The Archbishop acknowledged the need for stable financial systems if poverty is to be eradicated but quoted commentators who said: "One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5bn to save six million children's lives.
The archbishop acknowledged the need for stable financial systems if poverty was to be eradicated, but added: "One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5bn (£2.7bn) to save six million children's lives.
"World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they tell us that action for the poorest is too expensive?"
"World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they tell us that action for the poorest is too expensive?"
On Thursday, world leaders will meet in the US to mark progress in the Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets to reduce global poverty and improve living standards by 2015.
On Thursday, world leaders will meet in the US to mark progress in the Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets to reduce global poverty and improve living standards by 2015.
The goals range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education.
The goals range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education.
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