It is getting on for four years now since the global financial crisis of 2008. There have been significant reforms, most notably the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States and the proposals of the UK’s Independent Commission on Banking. The policies coming out of these lengthy reviews are aimed at making our banks safer and less prone to instability. But will they actually make the banking system more socially useful and help us create sustainable growth?
The Good Banking Forum includes a unique range of leading figures from academia, finance, politics, the law, trade unions, consumer and civil society groups that are demanding real reform of the banking sector.
The Forum emerged from the Good Banking Summit, organised by nef (the new economics foundation) and Compass in May 2011. The Forum challenges the limited scope of the Independent Commission on Banking, will mobilise public pressure for ‘Good Banking,’ and is campaigning to break-up the banks as a necessary first step.
Banks need to refocus their energies, not on those over complex products of no real use to humanity…but on their core functions of providing savings and credit and payment products to their customers…Not all financial innovation is valuable, not all trading activity plays a useful role, and a bigger financial system is not necessarily a better one.
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30/03/2012 | March Taxcast now out
The Taxcast is an upbeat 15 minute monthly podcast with the latest news, research and analysis of global events in tax evasion, tax avoidance and the shadow banking system. It features headlines, analysis with economist Richard Murphy of The Courageous State and a mini-documentary. The March episode is below.
16/03/2012 | Six Myths About Money & Banking
In this video Josh Ryan Collins from the New Economics Foundation (nef) explains how money is created.
15/03/2012 | New Tax-related Podcast Released
The Taxcast is an upbeat 15 minute monthly podcast with the latest news, research and analysis of global events in tax evasion, tax avoidance and the shadow banking system. It features headlines, analysis with economist Richard Murphy of The Courageous State and a mini-documentary. The first episode is below.
01/03/2012 | The role of the KfW (Germany’s state investment bank)
This week Gudrum Gumb from KfW Bankengruppe came to London to explain the vital role that the German state investment bank plays in Germany’s economy and society. You can watch an excerpt from the seminar below.
01/03/2012 | Move Your Money Month Begins
On-going bonus culture, failing to meet lending targets to small business and increasing customer complaints has been the narrative for the exasperated public this February. Post financial crisis, behaviour in the city hasn’t changed and it’s high time something was done about it.
March 2012 is Move Your Money Month. We’re calling for people to move their money from the 5 big banking groups into local, mutual and ethical alternatives.
27/02/2012 | John Nightingale – Rebuilding Trust in the Regions
Since the launch of the ECCR report The Banks and Society: Rebuilding Trust in March 2011 members of ECCR West Midlands have met some of the bankers and academics in the region, as well as regional officers of the Bank of England. This paper reflects on some of the conversations held; however the views are those of the author alone and are offered as a contribution to the continuing discussion.
23/02/2012 | David Boyle – The pressure is growing for a real bank break-up
It has taken a very long time, but at last the establishment seems to be using the b-word about the UK banking oligarchy.
Yes, in order to provide the UK economy with the support it needs, we need to break up the big banks.
17/02/2012 | David Boyle – What really happens when your local bank closes
We have become used to trading accusations about the way the big banks – which account for practically all banks in this country – have been progressively turning their back on the real world in favour of the speculative one.
10/02/2012 | Don’t like the way your bank behaves? Move Your Money
A new campaign has hit the headlines with the simple premise of encouraging those who believe that their banks are behaving unethically to move their deposits to a more ethical bank. More details at http://moveyourmoney.org.uk/
Below, Andrew Simms of the new economics foundation explains why we should back the campaign.
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