Angela Knight: New rules must not stop banks lending

All this talk about the banking sector and lending is detracting from the minor issue of a 4billion GBP monthly trade deficit. You wonder why there is no money to lend when the answer is staring you right in the face.

Ooh, I forgot, don't mention the trade deficit.......

British banks have hurt Britain and will 'further punish Britain' if we go it alone. Yes Angela, we get the message. The lines are clearly drawn.

There is no emotion in bringing these dishonest, self interested scoundrels who steal our money day by day to heel. It is just business. So get used to the new reality Angela.

IFA Watcher and Mr Chips - why destroy the sector that has given and can give in the future so much to Pension Funds and to the Govt in tax? It is grossly irresponsible to continue mindless bank bashing. (I'm no banker and do not support genuinely bad selling/service etc by banks when it occurs.)

There is no evidence smaller banks a safer - the reverse in fact. eg HSBC took nothing from the govt and pays out vast sums in tax. Lloyds were pressured by Govt (GBrown).

@John ... The way forward is for a rebalanced economy away from an over reliance on banking and speculation. The task isn't made any easier when you have British banks and speculators selling successfull British companies for a quick profit at the expense of British economic interest. There is no mindless banker bashing and perhaps you should be less quick to judge.

The last government favoured "light touch regulation".

If anyone believes that worked they are very very very stupid!

We, as a country, and as a continent (except possibly Germany if you exclude some of their banks) are in a massive financial hole: that is except from the bankers, other professionals and directors of major companies on the LSE that dug it for us, our children and our grandchildren!

Angela Knight is just a sad (and unattractive) cheerleader for these people.

I hope the "Coalition" continue to ignore her stupidities

I'm no fan of banks - I work in the tech sector specializing in telecoms. I know people who work in ICT in banks and its not like they get paid loads of money, drive around in fast cars and own expensive houses. According to them most people don't see these "big salaries and bonuses". So these rewards must be restricted to a very elite few in these organizations.

Ever since the dot-com blow-up it was obvious something wasn't right. To me it looks like a political issue more than all banks. Not all banks are crap. Just the ones that were bailed in Scotland and the north-east.

So let's be clear about this - the ultimate endgame of the banker bashing thing is to have a single state run/nationalized bank. Is this really where you want this to end up - some civil servant deciding whether you are worthy of borrowing money from the state. To me that is a nightmare.

The other thing I am thinking is when we talk about the finance sector does that include insurance companies. Seems to me they provide some useful services. But do those guys make big profits and get similar compensation packages? How intertwined is banking and insurance?