One of the highlights of today’s attendance at the Labour Party Conference Fringe events was an event hosted by Reform, an ‘independent think-tank’ and TheCityUK, which appears to be a PR organisation representing many UK-based financial organisations including the major banks. The title of the event was ‘Finance the future: business done differently under a Labour Government’ (sic). The panellists included Cathy Jameson MP (shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Stevenson (shadow Spokesperson for Business Innovation and Skills), Xavier Rolet (Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange), and Chris Cummings (Chief Executive of TheCityUK). There was a lot of talk from Cathy Jameson stating that the banks have to change and start treating Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and retail banking customers (i.e. the likes of you and me) better. Mr Rolet and Mr Cummings made the usual platitudes about how banks and financial institutions have learnt their lesson since the last recession, and that two million jobs depend on letting the financial institutions carry on as they have always done with minimal regulation from government. Lord Stevenson came across as being the most astute of all the panellists making the point that legislation can be framed effectively, so that financial institutions pay due regard to their moral and ethical obligations to society at large, and not simply their present legal duty to ‘maximise shareholder value’. Not really sure what to make of it all really. I don’t know if politicians can tell bankers how to behave ethically! Also regulation in the UK will mean naff all in a global economy, where there is no international consensus or regulatory organisation. The talk is all of continuing with business as usual, with no mention of ecological sustainability, dwindling natural capital, or international and intergenerational obligations. It looks like the developed world will do what it can to protect its pension funds and will use Chinese money to do so.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 22:45:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015