Labour conference: Miliband threat to break up banks

BBC News, 30 September 2012

Labour conference 2012 

• Labour Party conference agenda
• Balls in 'ruthless' spending vow
• Miliband 'must lead on economy'
• Labour out of touch, warns union

Labour says banking change is
necessary for an economy that
"works for working people"

Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that if banks do not separate their retail and investment arms, a future Labour government will "break them up".

"The infection of retail banking by the culture of casino banking" had to be tackled, Mr Miliband said, as the party met for its conference in Manchester.

Recommended ring-fencing of retail from investment banking had been watered down by the government, Labour said.

The Treasury said it was "undertaking radical reform" of the banking system.

The Vickers report into banking, launched in the wake of the financial crisis, last year recommended banks split into two parts to separate the High Street side from the riskier investment side and cut their reliance on borrowed money.

The coalition has already said that all of Sir John Vickers' recommendations will be implemented by 2019.

But Mr Miliband said a Labour administration would legislate if major changes were not in place by the 2015 general election.

"Either they can do it themselves - which frankly is not what has happened over the past year - or the next Labour government will, by law, break up retail and investment banks," he said.

"The banks and the government can change direction and say that they are going to implement the spirit and principle of Vickers to the full. That means the hard ring-fence between retail and investment banking.

"We need real separation, real culture change. Or we will legislate. If they don't do it voluntarily, embrace the change Britain needs, then we are going to have to do it by law."

Banks 'changed completely'

The Labour Party conference slogan is "Rebuilding Britain".

A Labour Party statement said: "We need to rebuild High Street banking so that they back British businesses, savers can feel safe, and we get the long-term investment needed to bring the new growth and jobs in our economy.

"That means High Street banks must be properly separated from casino banking."

Recent scandals over Libor interest rate-rigging and payment protection insurance mis-selling had reinforced "how important it is to achieve real culture change", Labour said.

But it went on: "While the case for change has grown, the change we are seeing has diminished.

"The government has caved in to a concerted lobbying campaign to water down the Vickers proposals for the ring-fencing of High Street banks from the casino culture."

Responding to Mr Miliband's comments, a Treasury spokesman said: "The government is undertaking radical reform of the UK banking system to ensure that the mistakes of the past aren't repeated, that the taxpayer is protected and that the banks support the UK economy."

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) said: "Since the onset of the global financial crisis, banks and banking regulation have changed completely.

"The UK's major banks have committed publicly to further change - to do whatever is necessary to restore financial stability, to play their part in economic recovery and to earn back the trust of their customers."

The BBA said it was currently working with the government and regulators to implement ring-fencing.

It added: "The goal of everyone involved in this global banking debate is to create a stronger, more reliable banking system with a customer-focused culture. The only differences are in the remedies proposed."

On Saturday, on the eve of his party's conference, Mr Miliband told a panel of voters in Manchester that the country faced an "economic emergency".

Among policies he has revealed so far are the replacement of Ofgem with an energy regulator which has tougher powers to ensure prices are fair and a cap on pension fund management fees.

He also signalled that Labour was looking seriously at replacing student fees with a graduate tax and wanted to go still further than the party's existing pledge to reduce them to a maximum of £6,000 from the present £9,000.

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