Press Release
3 December 2009 | CAUTION URGED OVER BANK REGULATION
British Banking Association CEO Angela Knight has warned Whitehall and Brussels not to rush new regulations for the banking industry.
Speaking at the TMA (UK) annual conference at the Royal College of Physicians in Regent's Park, London, the former Economic Secretary to the Treasury urged legislators to conduct thorough impact analyses before acting either on remunerations or splitting retail from investment banking.
She told a record attendance of 140 turnaround and recovery management specialists that before far-reaching new measures were introduced, the industry needed time to rebuild balance sheets, restore liquidity, and address the question of remuneration. Economic recovery also needed to be well under way, she said.
She went on to dismiss as fantasy the notion that retail and investment banking could be separated. Only investment banking, she said, could raise the funds needed by the retail side of the business to keep lending to homebuyers and businesses.
And she warned of a flight of the banking industry to Switzerland and other countries outside the EU if Brussels proposed harsh reforms.
Mrs Knight was one of a line-up of star speakers that included journalist Tim Harford – better known as the Undercover Economist – BVCA CEO Simon Walker, Garry Wilson of Endless LLp, and Little Chef boss Ian Pegler.
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