Ken Costa

Should we break up the banks?

Barack Obama has proposed breaking up the super banks and wants Britain to do the same. Should we? Ken Costa says no; Mark Bathgate disagrees

issue 30 January 2010

No
The proposal on the American table is simple: break up the so-called super banks. To have the deposit-taking banks in one place, and the risk-takers (or proprietary traders) in another. The aim is laudable: that Main Street should not have to pay for Wall Street. This is, after all, the system which existed under Glass-Steagall, the Depression-era legislation.

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