The Liberal Democrats have today set out radical plans to reform the banking industry.
The plans include:
Breaking up the banks and a Banking Levy
Getting the banks lending
Local Enterprise Funds
Regional Stock Exchanges
Supporting mutuals
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:
“At the heart of our plans for economic change is a simple insight: we need to devolve and disperse economic power, particularly in the banking sector.
“Most people, except perhaps Gordon Brown, now recognise that too much centralisation in politics has led to wasteful bureaucratic public services and a command-and-control state that leeches power away from people.
“I believe the same analysis can be made of our economy.
“Power has been too concentrated in a few super-banks.
“The building societies and regional banks that used to be the bedrock of families’ and small businesses’ access to credit have been swallowed up.
“And accessing equity investment, so you don’t have to rely on loans to grow your business, can be almost impossible unless you’re already big enough to cope with the burdens of listing on a stock exchange in London.
“Trying to grow businesses without money is like trying to grow plants without soil.
“We will create a totally different financial system; a completely different ecology of banking. More mutuals; a Post Office Bank; credit unions; Regional Stock Exchanges; Local Enterprise Funds to attract venture capital into small businesses.
“And for the banks: fundamental change. We will break them up and break them down.
“To re-root our banks in the communities they serve by making them, quite simply, smaller.
“And to protect people’s everyday savings from being used to fuel the casino culture of the global financial industry by separating retail and investment banking for good.
“Under the Liberal Democrats, the financial infrastructure of Britain will be different.
“Diverse, devolved and open, where more money is available, on reasonable terms to families and local businesses, not from distant super-banks but locally.”
