A critique of the welby speech to the Bible Society 22/04/2013




As reported on the Christian and mainstream media, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, who sits on the parliamentary banking committee, made a speech outlining his thinking on the issue as they prepare to report.



1) That the UK leaving aside the panacea of Quantitive Easing, is in a ‘ kind of depression’ and that each banking crisis requires further analysis as previous ones of this magnitude required things big to be done.

2) That the banking system is too big and that regional lenders are needed to kickstart the economy in the regions and nations of the UK. I observe that this has some difficulties in the current format as previous attempts to do this with mutual / building societies saw them just over expand or not have the capital base to deliver schemes such as local rail partnerships ( ie more passing loops on rail lines that allow for more frequent services)

3) That this requires both OBR (budget responsibility) and prudential conduct authority regulation and liason to draw up the guidelines for said regional bank

4) That this does not negate from the need for a bad bank to absorb the Quantitive easing debts that will never be repaid if the good banks are to be sold off back into private ownership



So which banks should be regionalised?



Gut instinct.



Lloyds / RBS already have the regional base but need further investment and structuring in England.



Finally:



Given the commercial nature of Scottish banks ( and in Scotland the separate legal jurisdiction), will the Scotttish and Welsh governments get devolved investment banks?