Labour: Changing banks should be as easy as switching phones
TOP BANKS’ grip on the market would be broken if consumers could change banks as easily as they change mobile phone networks, Labour leader Ed Miliband will say today.
He will also call for the big five high street banks to sell off up to 1,000 branches, allowing two smaller institutions to join the big players, in a speech that accuses the coalition of failing to restore competition to the sector in the wake of successive crises.
However, the government believes it is already taking sufficient steps as Lloyds is selling hundreds of branches to the Co-Op. Furthermore, new rules will create a new account switching service by September 2013.
Meanwhile reports yesterday claimed Barclays is looking at spinning off its investment bank in the wake of the Libor scandal.