To turn RBS into a network of community banks, looking at German Sparkassen for inspiration, would be a step closer to the kind of relational finance our communities desperately need.
Money laundering, forgery, fraud, corruption – if you do the crime, you do the time. It seems that’s the case everywhere but banking.
This is one conclusion arrived at after a year on the Parliamentary Banking Standards Commission (PBSC) examining the standards and culture of the industry. Why is it an off-shore island seemingly not subject to the normal rules of society?
In the wake of changes announced by chancellor George Osborne last week on the amount at which a credit union can charge in interest for one of its loan products, Joseph Wright of Civitas has written a paper entitled Credit Unions: A Solution to Poor Bank Lending? exploring the industry and its rates.
Is there no alternative for the members of the Co-operative other than a demutualisation? Must they stand back and let the stock market decide whether basic bank accounts, prisoner bank accounts, and the back office for credit unions, be assessed on the basis of return on capital rather than return to community?
A majority of voters want an early election and don’t blame Labour for the UK financial crisis – blaming the banking sector more, a new poll today reveals.
Jonathan Orde of the Young Fabians explains that it’s not all about banking reform – City culture needs to be tackled too.
Left Foot Forward’s Cormac Hollingsworth presents your cut-out-and-keep guido to neo-con economics.
The row over Mitt Romney’s links with Barclays has entered a new phase with a Parliamentary Early Day Motion tabled today by a Labour MP.
These might well be exciting times to be in the Labour party, writes Carl Packman.
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is to host a private fundraising dinner in London on the eve of the Olympics – at a cost of up to $75,000 a head.
