Mandelson slams Volcker
BUSINESS secretary Lord Mandelson yesterday dismissed US President Barack Obama’s plan to separate retail banking from riskier trading as “too difficult” to implement.
Suggesting a Labour government would not follow Obama’s so-called Volcker rule, Mandelson called for global coordination on regulation.
He said: “Trying to apply sweeping rules about the structure, content and range of activities of banking entities is too difficult to do. Whatever their size … or range of activities, you need good regulation.”
Admitting London was caught off guard by Washington’s intention to split up large banks earlier this year, Mandelson said the “principle and practice” of regulation mattered more than the size of institutions.
His comments, made after a speech in New York, came as the Obama administration sent a draft version of its proposals to Congress.