Sodom and Gomorrah had a reputation. Las Vegas is its heir apparent, lite. But London?

Bloomberg reports today (Kevin Crowley and Ambereen Choudhury - Jul 6, 2012) that “London risks losing its status as the world’s top financial center as the $360 trillion interest-rate fixing probe follows a series of market abuses by banks that eroded trust in a city already shrinking faster than rivals.”

AIG, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns & Co. all traded swaps in London that led to their bankruptcies or bailouts. JP Morgan Chase’s whale traded from London.

Said Bank of England Governor Mervyn King last month, “Everyone now understands that something went very wrong with the U.K. banking industry. From excessive levels of compensation, to shoddy treatment of customers, to a deceitful manipulation of one of the most important interest rates, we can see that we need a real change in the culture of the industry.”

Culture drives the business processes that underpin the impressions stakeholders understand as reputation. Of the six major business processes underpinning reputation, those that foster an ethical environment appear to have been tested and found wanting.