MPs told a full split may push banks from UK
BANKS could leave the UK if they are forced to fully split their retail and investment arms entirely, former Barclays chief Martin Taylor told MPs and peers yesterday.
The member of the Independent Banking Commission, which recommended the two parts of banks be ringfenced, was giving evidence to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
“Had we mandated a full split, one or two banks could reasonably have asked themselves whether they would want to move,” he said.
But he added that the full split may in the end be necessary if banks fail to reform practices.
The City grandee also poured water on plans for a professional body to up standards, dismissing the idea as “propaganda and PR.”
“Just introducing a code of conduct and making people sign it would be the wrong way round. You do not make a medical profession just by calling the quacks ‘doctors’.”
Martin Taylor ran Barclays from 1994 until 1998