Rachel Reeves told to scrap ‘restrictive’ UK economy measures after letter from 4 banks.uk
The Chancellor has been told by top executives to get rid of regulations that are now ‘redundant’.
Rachel Reeves has been told to scrap red tape to spark growth (Image: Getty)
Rachel Reeves has been urged to cut red tape as the UK economy is seen as more “restrictive” than others around the world. It comes after a group of four bank chiefs urged the Chancellor to go further as she continues on a quest for growth. In a letter obtained by Sky News, the chief executives of HSBC Holdings, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Santander UK said that ring-fencing separating consumer lending operations from investment banking “is not only a drag on banks’ ability to support business and the economy, but is now redundant”. Regulations were introduced after British taxpayers had to bail out several failing lenders amid the 2008 financial crisis.
They added: “With global economic headwinds, it is crucial that, in support of its Industrial Strategy, the government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy removes unnecessary constraints on the ability of UK banks to support businesses across the economy and sends the clearest possible signal to investors in the UK of your commitment to reform.
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The UK’s financial services sector is ‘restrictive’, an expert has said (Image: Getty)
“While we welcomed the recent technical adjustments to the ring-fencing regime, we believe it is now imperative to go further. Removing the ring-fencing regime is, we believe, among the most significant steps the government could take to ensure the prudential framework maximises the banking sector’s ability to support UK businesses and promote economic growth.”
April LaRusse, head of investment specialists at Insight Investment, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning: “I think there’s an argument for looking across Europe, and across the world, and saying how are other large economies actually making sure their banks are safe, and I think the UK does look stand out as particualrly restrictive.”
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The government says it is on a quest for growth (Image: Getty)
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But City of former City of London stock broker and author, Sir Philip Augar, is more sceptical. He said: “The reason we have strict regulations in the UK is that the financial services industry is a much bigger proportion of the economy than in other countries.”
He added that the letter from bank bosses was “shameless audacity” and “opportunistic to say the least, trying to use the current economic environment to improve the prospects of their own businesses”.
The expert added: “I’m appalled by it.”
