Big US banks try to win hearts and minds

New York

AT BOTH the Democratic and Republican conventions, the US's biggest banks were again cast as the bad guys, criticised as being too big and too risky.

This week, as the Olympic Games begin in Brazil, one of the big banks, Citigroup, is offering a rebuttal with a series of prime-time television and digital ads featuring images of sweaty athletes, the space shuttle and an early ATM.