God at Work on Five Live

Ken Costa appeared on Jeff Randall’s Weekend Business show to chat about religion and the workplace. The weekly slot discusses the latest news and features from the world of business and finance.
Jeff Randall:
Now how do you reconcile the pursuit of great personal wealth with strong religious beliefs, well, that’s the subject of a book by Ken Costa, a senior director at the giant investment bank, UBS. Ken welcome to Five Live.
Now Ken, you are a devout Christian but as a city banker you earn more money in a week than some people earn in a year. Can you live comfortably with that?
Ken Costa:
Well Jeff, I think it depends on the attitude, it depends on how you view that prosperity and I love the remarks of John Wesley, you know, ‘Make all you can, save all you can and give all you can.’ And that’s been a pretty good guide for many people.
Jeff Randall:
So you’re saying it’s no sin to earn lots of money, but it’s what you do with it once you’ve got it.
Ken Costa:
Well it’s both that. I think it’s to do what you – you’ve got to be sure that what you’re working in is the right place, that you’re providing a service to the community and then what you do with it matters.
Jeff Randall:
So do you agree with Peter Hain, the government minister who said that he wanted people in the city to give their bonuses away…
Listen to show here.
Read a transcript of the interview here.