For 25 years before becoming an MP, I worked in finance, including 10 years from 1987 with Barclays, first in the dealing room and then as a Financial Institutions Director running the Banks team. This latest banking scandal takes me back to my experiences of the “culture” that started post-Big Bang, and that continues to this day – in spite of the financial crisis. That is why we must now draw a line in the sand.
Given the importance of banks to Britain’s economic wellbeing, the recent revelations of misconduct by bankers is bad news for all of us. The time has come to say enough to tinkering with reforms. We need far-reaching measures to restore probity and credibility to the industry.
Well-functioning banks are crucial to an advanced economy such as ours. They are the oil that keeps the engine running. But hindsight shows that a small and powerful (but also unrepresentative) segment of bankers have, frankly, duped successive governments. The banking industry has had countless chances to heed the warning signals from government and regulators and to reform itself – but all the chances have been squandered. This points to only one conclusion. If our banking system is to meet the demands of today’s global economy, it needs a significant overhaul.