Senior
bankers guilty of reckless misconduct should be jailed, a long-awaited report
on banking commissioned by the government has recommended.
The Parliamentary Commission on
Banking Standards was set up by Chancellor George Osborne last year after a
number of scandals involving the industry.
The cross-party group's fifth report attacked the lack of accountability
of bankers and also said some bonuses should be withheld for up to 10 years.
The Treasury has welcomed the report.
This proposal of
jailing reckless bankers in future is a little overdue I would say, given that
since 2008 no banker has been jailed for recklessness despite the chaos they
caused, the collapse of the financial markets, plunging the world into a recession,
Libor, PPI etc.
The proposal to withhold
bonuses is also a little late, as bankers continue to be paid millions in
bonuses, regardless of how they perform, and politicians from all parties
continually say we’ll be tough on the banks, bankers and bonuses, yet it’s been
five years now and what has actually been done?
Hopefully this
will be the time when action is finally taken, although based on previous
evidence I’m not that confident, but something needs to be done otherwise
bankers will get even more reckless because they will be safe in the knowledge
that no matter what they do, nobody will do anything to stop them.
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