The debate in the UK about whether to tax bank bonuses (Labour) or balance-sheets (Conservative) is a sideshow.
Both are stopgap measures.
The key issue is that banks need to be broken up on competition grounds so they don’t earn huge profits in the first place.
Hi Philippe, been a reader of your book Aftershock. How can u break up a banking system, while it is primarily geared by greed and lots of selfish benefits. The taxpayers bail out seems to be very bias process, as there is very little reaction on the bank;s duties to people… You definitely cannot impose obligations on these businesses as they could move offshore at anytime as UK is not the most competitive place in the world. Neither these so call ‘quants’ are fixed, they could pack up and leave anytime. We all kno this, how can regulatory framework even stop this? Are we going to be dictated by constant non-ethical action of the bank? i don kno….we clearly need more muhammad yunus type of banks….while everyone tries to play by the rule. they definitely are not…not yet finished with your book, very interesting…thanks…adip.