Tag Archives: banking

The Independent View: How the Payments Council is delivering a payments system for all

By Adrian Kamellard | Mon 15th April 2013 - 11:55 am

Since the beginning of the financial crisis there has been real appetite for reform into how our financial sector works and how we want it to operate. The Liberal Democrats have played an important part in this, both from within Government as well as from the backbenches.

During its time in office, the Coalition has already introduced a Financial Services Act into law and is currently legislating for a Banking Reform Bill. In addition, there is also the ongoing Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which I appeared in front of in late January.

Not only is Danny Alexander ensuring the Party’s view …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged financial services and payments | 4 Comments

Cyprus bailout plan: good idea, badly implemented?

By Nick Thornsby | Thu 21st March 2013 - 2:33 pm

Cyprus’s parliament couldn’t have been much clearer in its rejection of the plan, negotiated between eurozone members, to bail out the country’s failing banks. As a result, Cyprus is now turning from Brussels to Moscow for a lifeboat, and it looks like a deal might be done. Russia is demonstrating once again that is never backward in coming forward to build (or buy) new strategic alliances.

Yet outside the markets pages of the Financial Times, the merits of the original plan seem to have been little-discussed, with the assumption being that the plan was a universally bad one. But actually the idea …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged cyprus | 23 Comments

Opinion: Government must act to stop Basel reforms

By David Thorpe | Mon 21st January 2013 - 11:23 am

Most of my working day is spent scuttling between sombre conferences on Central Banking best practice and meeting city economists to get their instant reaction to economic developments.

So when an opportunity came recently to travel to Basel in Switzerland to cover the latest announcement from the committee which aims to create a new framework for banking regulation, I leapt at the chance. But my delight at getting a free

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Posted in Op-eds | 11 Comments

William Powell AM writes… Why we must protect rural banking

By William Powell AM | Thu 6th December 2012 - 11:23 am

Almost every week brings news of the closure of bank branches in rural areas. As an Assembly Member in Wales representing a large rural region, I know at first hand the real effects of bank closures on local communities and businesses. Latest figures from the Campaign for Community Banking Services, published in September, show that in the last ten years just under 2,000 bank branches have closed. There are now 900 communities that have only one bank branch and 1,200 communities with no bank branch at all. The traditional ‘Big 4’ banks closed 178 branches in 2011. Estimates

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, Wales and william powell | 3 Comments

Opinion: Don’t complain – walk out!

By Chris White | Mon 3rd September 2012 - 12:55 pm

The story of UK banks is the one that just keeps on giving.

While we may be shocked by the LIBOR scandal (even though – let’s face it – we don’t really understand whether we have lost out or benefitted by the bankers’ manipulations) and stand aghast at various episodes of mis-selling and worse, what really matters to you and me is the service provided, well, to you and me.

If I complain about a bank will anything actually happen? Is there actually anyone there to complain to? Or someone who actually gives a damn?

All of us grumble to each other but …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged barclays and consumer | 11 Comments

Opinion: Britain has become a corporate state, not a free society

By Daniel Furr | Fri 24th August 2012 - 8:52 am

In the months after the financial crisis in 2008, I recall a conversation with an American friend of mine; we discussed the fallout and numerous rescue packages by countries. Financial media outlets, such as Bloomberg and CNBC, described the capital injections into financial institutions as a sign we are “all socialists now” – according to my American companion, this was far from the truth. In reality, Western economies have turned the page to fascism, not socialism.

When he mentioned this to me, I confess, it was rather amusing to listen to; very sceptical of such claims, until the request to research the facts myself led me to a worrying conclusion. The truth of matter is that we are not far off from what British fascists in the 1930s thought the financial sector should administrate to the rest of society.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged bank of england, economy, fascism and libor | 51 Comments

Opinion: Brussels vs. the banksters

By Giles Goodall | Sat 28th July 2012 - 1:21 pm

European Parliament building

Almost no-one in the UK would these days dispute the fact that the country’s banking sector needs a serious overhaul to correct the runaway behaviour which helped nudge Britain (and others) into the financial crisis. The Liberal Democrats have rightly been most persistent in demanding reforms, in particular a break-up of retail and casino banking, as recommended by the independent Vickers Inquiry.

The latest scandal about fixing the benchmark Libor interest rate plumbs new depths – even by the standards of Britain’s banks. Here were …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged europe and libor | 14 Comments

LibLink: Stephen Williams says MPs should move their money from big banks

By Mary Reid | Tue 17th July 2012 - 3:20 pm

In an article in The Spectator, Stephen Williams argues:

The Libor scandal has shown the UK’s banking sector in its worst light. The public has lost trust in the big banks and are concerned that their politicians are more interested in political point scoring than the urgent task of fixing our broken banking system.

That is why, last year, I joined the Move Your Money campaign, which urges the public to use their consumer power to change the behaviour of the big banks by moving their money, or at least some of it, to ethical, local or mutual financial institutions.

He has …

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged stephen williams | 1 Comment

Opinion: Make the bankers pay

By Charles Beaumont | Mon 16th July 2012 - 9:23 am

Back in May I posted on a distinctive message for the next election. This post looks at the defining global political issue since 2008: no, not the House of Lords; the financial sector.

Long before the LIBOR scandal, the financial industry dragged millions into poverty, awarding the perpetrators staggering salaries. But you already knew that. What we need is an intelligent, credible policy response. It is tempting to

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Posted in Op-eds | 21 Comments

PMQs: My honourable friend makes an important point

By Paul Walter | Thu 5th July 2012 - 9:23 am

I think David Cameron broke his own record this week:

(To Nicolas Soames) My right honourable Friend makes an important point.

(To Julian Brazier) My honourable Friend makes two very important points.

(To Duncan Hames) My honourable Friend raises an important point.

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged duncan hames and stephen lloyd | 2 Comments

Lib Dems should back a judge-led inquiry into financial scandal

By Stephen Tall | Wed 4th July 2012 - 10:55 pm

I get why the Tories are opposed to a judge-led inquiry into the scandalous rate-rigging practices employed by Barclays and other banks: their experiences of the Leveson Inquiry show how scandals, even ones that blend across the red/blue parties, have a habit of rebounding on the government of the day.

I get why Labour are in favour of a judge-led inquiry: so complicit were Labour (and Ed Balls in particular) in the catastrophic financial mess of the last few years, of which the banks are just one part, that they are desperate to appear transparent in the hope the inquiry will rebound on the government of the day.

But I don’t get why the Lib Dems are lining up with the Tories to oppose a judge-led inquiry.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged bob diamond, featured, finance, leveson inquiry and Parliament | 58 Comments

The banking system was rotten to the core – Clegg

By Nick Thornsby | Wed 4th July 2012 - 5:56 pm

The deputy prime minister is interviewed in tonight’s Evening Standard, where he speaks about, among other things, his attitude towards the British banking system. Here’s an excerpt:

“There is no doubt in my mind that what we saw, what peaked in 2008, was rotten to the core,” he says. “We cannot afford as a society, as a country, to have a banking system that is like a cuckoo in the nest, which pushes everything else out and which causes huge costs for millions of British taxpayers.

“Yet again the lid has been lifted on a culture which appeared to be permissive of

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged nick clegg | 10 Comments

Barclays and the Bank of England: BAD rate-rigging and GOOD rate-rigging

By Stephen Tall | Wed 4th July 2012 - 11:15 am

The Barclays rate-rigging scandal has conflated a number of issues — Bob Diamond’s bonus, ‘casino’ banking, failed regulators — making it hard to get behind the media’s shouty headlines to understand the issues which should really concern us. Here’s my brief show-your-working attempt, starting with what Barclays.

What Barclays did right: ‘fess up

LIBOR (London Inter Bank Offered Rate) is the rate at which banks in London lend money to each other for the short-term. It’s used as a proxy measure of market confidence in individual banks, as well as a benchmark for setting mortgage interest rates.

Barclays has admitted filing misleading …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged bank of england, barclays, bob diamond, economy, eddie george, featured, libor, mervyn king, national debt, paul tucker and personal debt | 15 Comments

++ Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond quits

By The Voice | Tue 3rd July 2012 - 7:53 am

Yesterday Nick Clegg called for more resignations at Barclays in the wake of the rate-rigging scandal. Well, he’s just got his wish in part fulfilled, with the news that chief executive Bob Diamond is falling on his sword (or was he pushed?). Here’s how the BBC reports it:

Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond has resigned with immediate effect.

The move follows the resignation of chairman Marcus Agius and comes less than a week after the bank was fined a record amount for trying to manipulate inter-bank lending rates.

Mr Diamond said he was stepping down because the external pressure on Barclays

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged barclays, bob diamond and marcus agius | 28 Comments

Nick Robinson: Chancellor to announce banking inquiry this afternoon

By NewsHound | Mon 2nd July 2012 - 3:10 pm

From the BBC’s Nick Robinson:

The government is to set up a wider inquiry into banking to report by the end of the year.

It will not be a full Leveson-style public inquiry. However, it will be separate from, and much wider than, the inquiry already announced into the abuses of LIBOR – inter-bank lending rate – at Barclays and other banks.

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Posted in News | 6 Comments

Nick Clegg wants to see more resignations at Barclays

By NewsHound | Mon 2nd July 2012 - 1:49 pm

The Press Association reports:

Nick Clegg has ramped up the pressure on Bob Diamond by indicating he believed the Barclays chief executive should follow the lead of the bank’s chairman, Marcus Agius.
The Deputy Prime Minister said he had “no problem with more inquires” into what went wrong with the industry after Labour called for a Leveson-style investigation.

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Posted in News | 8 Comments

++ Barclays chairman set to resign

By NewsHound | Sun 1st July 2012 - 7:43 pm

Breaking News from the BBC

Marcus Agius is to resign as the chairman of Barclays, the BBC has learned.

There will be an announcement on Monday morning, BBC business editor Robert Peston says.

It comes after Barclays was fined £290m ($450m) for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate.

Posted in News | 5 Comments

LibLink: Nick Clegg – Beware the risks and rewards of a banking union

By NewsHound | Sat 30th June 2012 - 11:50 am

Writing in the Financial Times this week, Nick Clegg warned:

In the debate on banking union we back greater co-operation on various aspects of an integrated financial system: common rules on the restructuring of failed banks, shared principles on how to protect depositors, high minimum standards for the capital EU banks should hold and a strong European Banking Authority.

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Posted in Europe / International and LibLink | Also tagged euro, european union and nick clegg | 4 Comments

Cable: The City is a massive cesspit

By NewsHound | Sat 30th June 2012 - 8:26 am

The Independent reports:

The Government was under growing pressure last night to call a public inquiry into the behaviour of Britain’s bankers as the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, admitted the sector was a “massive cesspit” that needed cleaning up.

Posted in News | Also tagged vince cable | 13 Comments

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore MP | Wed 16th May 2012 - 10:25 am

Every week Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland writes a column for local newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here is this week’s edition.

Queen’s Speech

Last week, we saw the State Opening of Parliament by the Queen. Her Majesty set out the legislation planned for the second session of Parliament following the formation of the Coalition. The legislation outlined in the speech supports our efforts to reduce the deficit, rebalance the economy and put the country on the path to sustainable growth. It also sets out our commitment to provide families, businesses and communities across the country with the support they …

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Posted in News | Also tagged energy, grocery adjudicator, Michael Moore, queen's speech, state pension and Westminster Notes | Leave a comment

LDVideo: Nick Clegg urges banks to lend to businesses

By The Voice | Wed 25th April 2012 - 5:55 pm

We covered earlier Nick Clegg’s reaction to today’s shock news that the UK is back in recession — here’s an excerpt from his speech today to the Institute of Directors where he urges the banks t play their part, and start lending to businesses:

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Posted in YouTube | Also tagged nick clegg | 11 Comments

Opinion: bashing bankers the economically liberal way – risk and responsibility

By Mike Bird | Tue 13th March 2012 - 3:23 pm

Just before conference I caught some largely unreported news on a Private Member’s Bill, put to the Commons by Steve Baker MP, founder of the Cobden Centre, and one of the Conservative 2010 intake.

My usual response to scant coverage of a Conservative backbencher’s bills would be thankful, but in this case, the bill highlights something that has received astonishingly little attention: reforming the personal liability of directors. We’ve rested on the important points of how to discharge shares in effectively state-owned institutions, and how to increase lending to struggling businesses. On these issues Stephen Williams …

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Posted in Op-eds | 11 Comments

What David Cameron used to say about bankers and bonuses

By Mark Pack | Thu 23rd February 2012 - 6:50 am

As ever, it’s three things to remember:

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Posted in News | Also tagged david cameron | Leave a comment

LDVideo: Danny Alexander – ‘No-one wants bonus culture’

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th January 2012 - 8:00 pm

Here’s Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander interviewed on Sunday lunchtime, defending the Coalition’s decision not to demand RBS chief executive Stephen Hester return his controversial bonus — a few hours before Mr Hester voluntarily forfeited it to defuse the row:

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Posted in YouTube | Also tagged Danny Alexander and stephen hester | 12 Comments

The Independent View: The banking sector needs radical reform but too many cures will kill the patient

By Ben Norman | Mon 19th December 2011 - 6:58 pm

For seven days before Christmas it has been an incredibly busy day for the financial services sector. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Draft Financial Services Bill has produced its wide-ranging report into regulatory reform; the FSA has published its Mortgage Market Review consultation; and, last but not least, the Treasury has published the Government’s response to the Independent Commission on Banking.

At least the latter was well leaked – what isn’t these days? – and gave me time to think about the ICB.

The ICB is actually something quite amazing, not to mention something entirely Lib Dem.

Sir John Vickers was given …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged independent commission on banking and john vickers | 2 Comments

Opinion: Do Banks Rule the World?

By Mark Hofman | Sun 20th November 2011 - 2:05 pm

Last week many of us may have witnessed the sickening spectacle of watching a city trader declaring that Goldman Sachs rules the world… among other insights, such as how he lays awake at night fantasising about another economic depression.

If money rules the world, then surely whoever rules the world controls the money supply?

Many of us would, therefore, assume that the Bank of England creates money and regulates its supply to the economy, thereby controlling inflation and interest rates. However, whenever we look to finance a house, car, business project, etc, we invariably turn to the banks (in the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged bank of england, goldman sachs, green investment bank, nick clegg, regional growth fund, technology innovation centre, vickers commission and vince cable | 9 Comments

Dick Newby writes… Banking – a Lib Dem win

By Dick Newby | Mon 12th September 2011 - 10:41 pm

As I write this, the top headline on the BBC online news reads Acclaim for Bank Shake-up Plan. The report states that there is broad support for the Vickers’ report’s proposals to separate domestic retail banking and global wholesale and investment banking operations. This support extends to the Chancellor and the Prime Minister.

What the BBC doesn’t point out is that this a complete victory for the Liberal Democrats – particularly Vince Cable. When the banking crisis broke , we quickly decided that we had to ensure that the state couldn’t be put in the position again where it …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, independent commission on banking, john vickers and vince cable | 12 Comments

Monday: politicians and bankers learn their possible fates

By Mark Pack | Sun 11th September 2011 - 9:50 am

A quirk of the political calendar means Monday sees both politicians and bankers learn of their possible future fate. For English MPs it is when they get embargoed copies of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission’s draft proposals, which get published on Tuesday. Monday is also the day when the Vickers Commission publishes its banking reform recommendations.

There is a widespread expectation in Whitehall that the Vickers Commission will recommend isolating retail banking from other banking activities, but without demanding that companies be split up. Internal firewalls and the like will be demanded instead.

It is also widely expected that the Vickers Commission will …

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Posted in News | Also tagged independent commission on banking, john vickers and vince cable | 3 Comments

Clegg’s bailed-out banks’ shares give-away proposal triggers national debate

By Stephen Tall | Sat 25th June 2011 - 3:25 pm

Nick Clegg’s very public call for the British public to be given shares in the bailed-out banks — creating 46 million shareholders and allowing collective ownership of banks — has garnered acres of coverage the past couple of days.

It’s three months since Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams first proposed the privatisation of its 83% stake in RBS and 41% in Lloyds by distributing shares to the public. Here’s what my co-editor Mark Pack said about the idea at the time:

Giving everyone shares in the banks: Stephen Williams’s proposals examined (7th March, 2011)
Stephen Williams’s plan is to give shares

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged john redwood, Mark Pack, nick clegg, stephen williams and toby fenwick | 7 Comments

Opinion: Liberal Youth promote intergenerational fairness for Bank Shares

By Tom Wood | Thu 23rd June 2011 - 3:52 pm

Nick Clegg’s innovative proposal to give the public shares in Lloyds and RBS is enthusiastically welcomed by Liberal Youth: but we believe that these reforms can go even further. Young people are bearing the brunt of the recession caused by the banks both in a lack of jobs and lost funding for education, and because it is the next generation that will be paying off the government’s debt for years to come. It is only right the government should give something back to them.

While Nick’s proposal represents exactly the kind of fairness that Liberal Democrats seek to bring to …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged liberal youth, nick clegg and stephen williams | 22 Comments