By Matt Falloon
LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) – Britain wants to remove the implicit taxpayer subsidy to banks but must not be left alone in clamping down on the financial sector, financial services minister Paul Myners said on Monday.
In a speech to bankers in London, Myners said there was a risk that high-flying financiers had not learned their lesson from the financial crisis and stringent reforms were needed to change behaviour.
Policymakers are increasingly mindful that improving economic conditions across the world may diminish the appetite to overhaul the financial system following the credit crisis.
“We are serious about removing the safety net that has allowed those with blind faith in market efficiency to ignore the consequences of their lack of discipline,” Myners said, according to a text of his speech.
“There is no reason why the public, taxpayers, should continue to provide a free at the source of delivery subsidy to the cost of capital of the banking system. We need to do everything we can to shrink the subsidy to zero.”
