BBA: Treasury Committee must move beyond blaming

Today's Treasury Committee report on the financial crisis does too little to reflect the work banks are undertaking with the Government to restore the economy, says the British Bankers' Association.

The report issued today will not move forward the discussion on the future of banking, said BBA chief executive Angela Knight said: "There are some useful points in the Committee's report. But the Committee has sadly sought headlines in this report, rather than their previous good analyses and that of Lord Turner.

"The industry acknowledged some time ago that in some banks the risk controls were not good enough. But many banks are in fact weathering this financial crisis and it is unfortunate the Committee has not seen fit to recognise this. If we simply continue to blame the industry for all of the problems of the economy in the UK it will do little to help us out of the recession and will further damage the UK as an international financial centre.

"Banks are helping their customer to manage through in these difficult times. As an industry we have stepped up to the plate of change and are already addressing many of the points identified by the Committee.

"The banks are focused on their customers and on restoring confidence, concentrating on the issues which are important to our customers and the measures needed to bring about long-term stability. We must move forward if we are to move at all."