IoD reaction to report from Independent Commission on Banking

Dated: 11 April 2011

Commenting on the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) Interim Report, Miles Templeman, Director General of the IoD said:

“The Commission was set a very difficult challenge, to increase stability and competition in the banking system, whilst not undermining the competitiveness of the City. We think it has responded well to this dilemma. However, it has not unearthed a free-lunch. Increased capital provisioning comes at price – lower profitability for the banks and an increased cost of borrowing for businesses and households. There will now be a vigorous debate as to exactly how much ring-fencing will cost and how it will operate in detail. It is vital that any action the Government ultimately takes does not weaken our international competitiveness in financial services.

“We have also argued that ring-fencing day to day activities would not have prevented the collapse of Lehman. The taxpayer is not completely off the hook because many investment banks will remain too big to fail.

He added:

“The Interim report does not mark the end of the debate, merely the beginning of the end.”

ENDS

Contact Points

Edwin Morgan
Media Relations Manager
Institute of Directors, 116 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ED
Tel: +44 (0)20 7451 3392
Mob: +44 (0)7814 386 243
Email: edwin.morgan@iod.com
Website: www.iod.com/policy

Notes to editors

  • The IoD (Institute of Directors) was founded in 1903 and obtained a Royal Charter in 1906. The IoD is a non-party political organisation with upwards of 45,000 members in the United Kingdom and overseas. Membership includes directors from right across the business spectrum – from media to manufacturing, e-business to the public and voluntary sectors. Members include CEOs of large corporations as well as entrepreneurial directors of start-up companies.
  • The IoD offers a wide range of business services which include business centre facilities (including ten UK regional centres [three in London, Reading, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Belfast] and one each in Paris and Brussels), conferences, networking events, virtual offices and hotdesking, issues-led guides and literature, as well as free access to business information and advisory services and a comprehensive Information Centre. The IoD places great emphasis on director development and has established a certified qualification for directors – Chartered Director – as well as running specific board-level and director-level training and individual career mentoring programmes.
  • In addition, the IoD provides an effective voice to represent the interests of its members to government and key opinion-formers at the highest levels. These include ministers, constituency MPs, Select Committee members and senior civil servants. IoD policies and views are actively promoted to the national, regional and trade media.
  • For further information, visit our website: www.iod.com
  • You can also keep up to date with the latest views from the IoD on twitter.com/The_IoD and at blogs.iod.com