Sunday 16 June 2013

The Good Bank

Who on earth would buy RBS, even the "good" bits? Only in February, none other than Nigel Lawson called for the whole of it to be nationalised, so as to force it to lend to business. That's right. Nigel Lawson.

But he was still only halfway there. Investment banking and retail banking should be split completely. Unless the TSB really is to be reconstituted with its Trustees appointed by the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and the Baptist Union, then all retail banks other than the public stakes in HBOS and RBS ought to be turned into mutual building societies, ironclad as such by statute, the same Statute Law that already forbids building societies from engaging in investment banking.

Those public stakes should indeed be increased to 100 per cent. They are permanent, non-negotiable safeguards of the Union, as public ownership always is. Therefore, the profits from each of those stakes should be divided equally among all the households in the United Kingdom. And thus restructured, they provide ready-made alternatives to pay day loans. Think about it. As someone should already have done by now.

Ed Miliband, Jon Cruddas, Maurice Glasman, Stewart Wood, Ed Balls, Chuka Umunna and Stella Creasy, over to you.

2 comments:

  1. "so as to force it to lend to business"

    With respect... that makes absolutely no sense.

    A bank can only lend to business if it is turning profit itself-to do that, it needs to be able to take risks and expand, which it can only do if in private hands. If in public hands, its bosses have to be cautious as it does not belong to them.

    That is why US banks, unlike ours, are now lending again and driving the economy-and they're almost all back in private hands.

    Why do you never answer this point David?

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