Vince Cable on banking reform

Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable yesterday delivered a speech to the London Stock Exchange.

In the speech, he listed the ways in which the current regulatory model could be improved, and called for:

• RBS and Lloyds to be broken up before they are returned to private ownership
• Highly paid bankers to publish details of their remuneration and confirm they are resident and domiciled in the UK
• The FSA to remain as a unitary regulator
• A long-term role for state banking, rather than the quick sale of state-owned banks
• The scrapping of the ‘woefully misconceived’ Asset Protection Scheme

Vince Cable said; "The Government has yet to grapple with the challenge posed by the Governor of the Bank of England: that if a bank is too big to fail it is too big. One approach is to make it easier for big institutions to fail. My approach to the City is not one of hostility, or of obsequiousness. I recognise its importance. But it needs ‘tough love’, not the freedom to run amok."