A campaign for more transparency in the City of London has been launched—in the East End next door.

Delegates to the City Reform Group’s inaugural meeting at Spitalfields Church were welcomed by the Bishop of Stepney, the Rt Rev Adrian Newman.

The group has pledged to “restore the reputation of the City” following the financial crash of 2008.

Reforms are needed following “PR disasters” such as bankers’ bonuses, manipulated markets, mis-selling financial products, pension fund mismanagement allegations and more recently the corporate tax avoidance debate in Parliament.

David Davis, who sat on the government’s Independent Panel on the Future of Banking, told the launch meeting that many financial workers admitted having to do things they knew were wrong—but had no Hippocratic Oath as in other professions to challenge work practices.

The reform group wants to encourage candidates in the forthcoming elections to the Common Council in March to sign up to pledges to promote responsible business practice and to run the City Corporation democratically with accountability and transparency. It wants all wards to be contested.