Perhaps Elton John had it right when he sang, "Sorry seems to be the hardest word". The aphorism certainly seems to hold true when it comes to bankers in the current financial crisis.

Just last week, Richard Fuld, the chief executive of Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH - News) , told the US Congress that everyone from the news media to government regulators played a role in the failure of his investment bank but he pretty much absolved himself.

"We did everything we could to protect the firm," he said. The closest Mr Fuld got to an apology was to say he felt "horrible about what happened".

Nor is he unusual.

Klaus-Peter Müller, the chairman of Commerzbank and the head of the German banking association, acknowledged errors on Tuesday but the word apology did not cross his lips.

"No question, we made mistakes. I admit that freely. But even if mistakes were made, that shouldn't be enough to bring an entire profession into disrepute," he told the mass-market Bild daily.

Similarly, a spokeswoman for the British Bankers' Association said the group's members "regret the situation we find ourselves in today", but quickly added "banking is clearly only one factor".

Is it any wonder that Horst Köhler, Germany's president, complained: "I still haven't heard a clearly audible mea culpa."

The general tendency to duck stands in stark contrast to behavioural norms in Japan.

The leaders of Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, for example, bowed in apology during a televised news conference about their institution's 1997 collapse.

One major barrier to apologies appears to be fear of the reaction. "No one wants to stick their head above the parapet or be the one identified with this scandal. Saying sorry can be a dangerous thing," said a top executive at a large UK financial services company.

Angry shareholders might also seize on any expression of contrition as an invitation to litigation, so caution is critical. "Be conservative in what you say, don't say anything more than you need to and avoid speculating about the future as much as possible. That all means closely controlling how much executives say and appear," says the head of communications at a FTSE 100 group.

Some industry lobbying groups are more willing to take on blame than their individual members. They, after all, cannot be sued.

"As an industry we absolutely bear responsibility for being part of the problem," said Tim Ryan, chief executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. "In recent years, financial engineering reached levels of complexity that were unsustainable."

Similarly Alan Yarrow, chairman of the London Investment Banking Association, said "Clearly, mistakes were made . . . That must be a matter of regret for all involved."

Some bankers are muttering that regulators should also take their licks for the loose rules that set the stage for the current crisis. Asked about a possible apology, an official at a continental European regulator first of all joked: "But it is an American problem; surely it is for them to apologise."

The UK's Financial Services Authority points out that it publicly detailed the many shortcomings in its supervision of Northern Rock. But purists will note that while FSA chief Hector Sants called his organisation's performance "unacceptable", he never used the words "I'm sorry".