The banker who bats for charity

"It was a pretty marginal decision. If indeed there are a lot of people who say: 'maybe we made a mistake'; then I think there is still the opportunity for parliamentarians to say 'maybe we should rethink this'."

But Sir Victor's concerns are primarily for the charitable sector. He is nervous about the weight the third sector will have to pick up in the wake of a crash.

You see, Sir Victor may be a banker, but he is one with a big heart.

Aged 73, he earned a formidable reputation as a corporate lawyer turned merchant banker and eventually Britain's ambassador for business, a role he held for both Gordon Brown and David Cameron's governments.

But it is his work for health, education and communal charities that he speaks most passionately about. His philanthropic efforts have probably not been given the coverage they deserve; but that may be because Sir Victor has avoided the limelight when possible.

It took me a long time to convince Sir Victor to do this interview, because, "I quite like to keep my privacy.

"I have always had the view - with the odd exception, of which I suppose this is one - that if I can help the business I am involved in by doing an interview, then it is worth doing. But do one a personal basis, no."

For the past 30 years, the Lancashire Cricket club member has hosted an all-star cricket match at his second home in Oxfordshire. To date, the annual event has raised more than £7 million for a variety of charities.

Still, he is quick to call out corporates for a lack of social responsibility: "They used to say that [corporate] charitable giving, was what the chairman's wife wanted to give.

"I believe, quite strongly, that most companies still do not take it seriously enough and should be doing more financially."

"I am concerned that companies come here, have a massive turnover, but take most of their profits away by fairly artificial structures. It doesn't feel quite right.

"We should expect companies with offices here to contribute to society both through taxes fairly and treating this as a home jurisdiction."

Born Maurice Victor Blank in Stockport, Greater Manchester, he got his values from his family. His father, a tailor, welcomed poorer members of the community into their three-bedroom home; supporting them if they needed it.

"Someone once asked me why I believe in philanthropy. I said: 'I was taught to'.

"I was taught to help people who were not as well off; I was taught to give 10 per cent.

"The old philosophy is, if someone can bring themselves to ask for help, then you have to help them if you can."

Just before his own barmitzvah at Stockport synagogue, his mother died from ovarian cancer. His aunts stepped in to support the family, taking it in turns to host Shabbat dinner.

"It was a very hard time. As a teenager, you just kind of get on with it. Our family were our support network - they are the people you can rely on. Our father took great care of us.

"My grandfather came here from the Ukraine, worked in a sweatshop in Stockport, then became a tailor and had a shop. My father wanted his kids to go to university and become professionals because that meant security.

"My father would have probably liked me to become a doctor because my mother died quite young, but I didn't fancy the sight of blood so I went to become a lawyer. I am not sure how much I thought about it."

He was the first in his family to go to higher education, graduating from Oxford University with a degree in Modern History in 1963. Six years later he became the youngest ever, and first Jewish partner at law firm Clifford Turner.

"In the sixties it was quite tough. At the partners' meeting, someone asked: 'Does it matter that he's Jewish'. Now, that same firm (now Clifford Chance) hosts a Chanucah party for its clients and employees."

In 1981 an opportunity to head the corporate finance department of merchant bank Charterhouse Japhet came up - and he took it.

"I was probably initially worse off [financially] as a managing director of a medium sized merchant bank than I was as a partner of a law firm. But I just thought I would kick myself if I didn't try it. Also the law firm couldn't have been nicer; they said I had two years to come back if I wanted."

Overall, Sir Victor seems to have a very clear view of right and wrong.

But back in 2008, the British public felt wronged by the bankers whose irresponsible lending strategy led to a global economic crash.

The story was recently replayed on the big-screen through the award-winning film, The Big Short. The movie told the story of four investors who foresaw the global crash and bet against the US mortgage market in 2006-7.

I ask Sir Victor whether he saw the film. He did, at his local Everyman cinema in Hampstead with wife Sylvia.

What did he think of it? "It showed the sort of dishonourable and dishonest activities that were going on in some aspects of the States and then came over here."

But if those four men could have foreseen the doom to follow, how come it wasn't spotted here, by the people trusted to manage key parts of our economy?

"Greed was a big factor in all of this," he concedes.

"I think the answer is most people did not want to see it. They were making a lot of money out of what was happening.

"I don't think they wanted to recognise that there was an end in sight. There were fundamental flaws in what they were doing."

He continues: "It was very hard to distinguish between good assets and bad assets."

There was a moment when he realised things "were bad". He was in his garden in Oxfordshire, when he received a call from Lloyd's chief executive. HBOS, acquired by Lloyd's a fortnight before, said they would not be able to open their doors on Monday without "some liquidity". The Bank of England was being inflexible.

"I walked around my garden a few times and thought: 'What the hell can I do?'"

He called the then premier Gordon Brown at Chequers.

"I told him we have a crash coming unless there's a bit of give and take.

"One way or another the Bank of England and HBOS did a deal, so by Monday, it was open.

"I realised the situation was serious, but at that moment I knew how critically serious."

He accepts the flack he took during the crash.

"If you do something which may be no fault of yours and nevertheless you lead an organisation which has a setback, then you are going to get criticised."

In the wake of the crash, more regulation followed. He believes it's a good thing, but says: "The trouble about regulation is: the regulators usually aren't as clever as the bankers.

"Could it ever happen again? Some of it could. Probably not on that scale, probably not that fundamentally, probably not so it threatens the whole of society; but I think you could see misbehaviours and dishonest aspects of the system."

Today, he chairs charities including the Union of Jewish Students, Social Mobility Foundation and Wellbeing of Women.

Recognising that Jewish students are having a tough time on campus, he says it is the UJS's job to campaign. "I make sure they have access when they need it, to politicians and financial support. The most important thing about the UJS is that it is peer led.

"Our community depends on the vitality of the next generation."

For Sir Victor (a member of four synagogues), charitable giving is a fundamentally British and Jewish trait.

He notes that during the last recession, "Charities I chair struggled with corporate donations; but as far individuals were concerned, particularly people who were giving small amounts of money, it actually went up. It's a wonderful reflection on people - the mass population of this country is incredibly generous and kind."