Ground Floor: Alan Greenspan wants us to trust each other again. The chairman of the Federal Reserve was speaking (by satellite) to a conference held by the Atlanta Fed and he told the assembled throng that he hoped "trust and integrity would again be amply rewarded in the marketplace as they were in earlier generations".

Ho hum. I rather think that a lot of the fortunes that were made in earlier generations were made because the market practitioners of the time happily traded away on insider information until it became illegal. And I don't think anyone in the capitalist world expects truth, justice and the American way to reward them quite as much as setting easily achievable targets which are rewarded by ridiculously priced options.

Mr Greenspan now seems to think the rules and regulations that have been brought in as a result of wholesale breaches of trust by corporate America have the potential to tie future ventures up in a mire of red tape. He cautions against rewriting the rules that have "served us well".

Some of those rules may have served Wall Street well in the early 19th century when the US bankers worked hard, as Mr Greenspan reminds us, to establish the principle that their word was their bond (though I'm sure that still didn't stop them from making a killing on insider information). But few people believe that any more.

Dealers trust each other because not to do so would make trading impossible. It simply wouldn't be realistic to have paperwork flying backwards and forwards in the time it takes to complete, for example, a foreign exchange trade.

However, to supplement the fact that their word is their bond, phone conversations are recorded. In all of the time I worked on a dealing desk I needed to check the tapes less than half a dozen times, but at least they were there. There was also the understanding that we were all market professionals who were able to access the same information at the same time and make our own judgments so that if the wool was pulled over your eyes, it was your own fault.

The problem with the notion of trust in the business world for most of us is that when people have privileged information, they seem to find it impossible not to use it to their benefit and the possible detriment of others. I hesitate to invoke the spirit of Martha Stewart again but - what the hell! Martha was given the nod, sold her shares and saved herself a lot of money. The counterparty on the other side of the deal, without the alleged inside knowledge that Martha possessed, lost out.

Wall Street itself hasn't been without a stain on its character, as at various times different firms have been accused of manipulating markets or acting on insider information. Back in the 19th century and in the age of trust so beloved of Alan Greenspan, such manipulation affected a much smaller number of people. These days the market influences everyone. Mr Greenspan argues that the plethora of laws enacted over the past 100 years haven't eliminated the "less savoury side" of our behaviour. But they have made those acts into criminal ones.

We can't expect all people in all business to be squeaky clean. In any event, almost all of us have probably nicked a biro or made a long-distance phone call or used the internet during office hours - all transgressions against our employers. Then there's the entertainment factor, the bringing of potential clients to expensive restaurants or prestigious sporting events or concerts in anticipation of future business. We expect to be rewarded for our generosity. And sometimes we are.

Or sometimes our business acquaintance loses his or her job as a result. Anyone with a more squeaky clean and boring image than the former Bundesbank president, Mr Ernst Welteke, would be hard to imagine. But last week he resigned over an issue of corporate entertainment.

Dresdner Bank had paid a bill in excess of €7,000 for him and his family for a trip combining the launch of the euro with a family holiday. Dresdner Bank is, of course, under the supervision of the Bundesbank. And the car-maker BMW has confirmed reports that it paid for Mr Welteke to go to the Formula One Grand Prix in Monaco last year and spend the night on a yacht. (BMW bank offers the usual range of services including a platinum card with a rewards system. Maybe Ernst has one.)

Anyway now his reputation has been shattered and, in his resignation letter, he lashed out at "anonymous letters" being sent to the Federal Ministry of Finance and "irresponsible" pressure being placed on the executive board of the Bundesbank. Unfortunately for Mr Welteke, he has criticised the Federal government's fiscal policy in the past and it was the government which brought pressure on him to resign. In his letter, Mr Welteke says "the trust between the Federal Ministry of Finance and myself has been irreparably destroyed".

Maybe he and Mr Greenspan can meet for lunch one day and bemoan the fact that the price of trust is impossible to set.