Banks must come clean on assets before creation of bad bank

Commenting on reports that the Government is considering creating a ‘bad bank' to take assets from the British banks, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable said: "Before a bad bank can become viable, the banks must first come clean on the value of their assets.

"If the Government gets the valuation of these assets wrong, there is a real danger that huge amounts of taxpayers money could be lost in the long run.

"It is critical that we do not find ourselves in a situation where taxpayers carry all of the risk without any potential benefits.

"We must not rule out the possibility of further nationalisations as the banks continue to admit serious losses."