Warren Buffett calls for greater punishment for Wall Street rulebreakers

Authorities tend to go after corporations because it is easier to get a headline-grabbing conviction that way, Mr Buffett said, but he argued that pursuing individuals would be fairer and have a longer-term impact.

However, the so-called “Sage of Omaha” also acknowledged that behavior on Wall Street has improved “enormously” in recent years, adding that that large businesses would always have rogues.

“We will have a problem at some point. We have 300,000 people. They are not all going to be [good],” he said.

His comments hit close to home. Three years ago, David Sokol Berkshire Hathaway executive once tipped as Mr Buffett’s heir apparent, was fired amid allegations that he had been insider trading. He was later cleared by America’s Securities and Exchange Commission.

On Saturday, the billionaire and his business partner, Charlie Munger, 90, faced a fresh round of questions over the future leadership of the company, which is now expected to fall to Mr Buffett’s eldest son, Howard.

Mr Buffett said that whoever succeeded him should have a partner like Mr Munger, whose deadpan quips are a humourous foil to Mr Buffett’s upbeat commentary. "Berkshire is better off with the two of us working together. There is no question about it,” he said, adding that it makes the job “more fun”.

The two men responded to wide-ranging questions from shareholders over the course of more than four hours, in Omaha’s Centurylink stadium – an auditorium around the size of the O2.

During that time, Mr Munger recalled Oscar Wilde as he criticised activist investors, who have become increasingly influential over the last five years, often buying their way into badly-run companies in order to force a change. “It is the pursuit of the uneatable [sic] by the unspeakable,” he said.

They also defended their hands-off management style. Berkshire Hathaway is “very disciplined in some ways and by other business standards, very sloppy,” Mr Buffett said. However, he argued that trusting the management of its investments, and empowering them to run the companies as they see fit brings more benefits than problems.

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