The question of what to do with the banks is a sore point in Westminster — and the
Barclays boss Bob Diamond has just aggravated it. According to Sky’s Mark Kleinman, he suggested to a meeting of Barclays investors last week
that the bank might move its headquarters away from London as a result of the Banking Commission’s proposed changes for the sector. “It’s not a question of whether Barclays wants to stay in
the UK,” quoth Diamond Bob, “but whether the UK wants Barclays to be here.” In rhetorical terms, it’s a significant escalation of his previous statement, in March, that Barclays had
an obligation to consider moving if doing so would boost returns for its shareholders — not least because he added, back then, that “London is where we want to be. This is home and where
we want to stay.”
It also augurs a fraught autumn for the coalition’s banking reformers. The final report of the Vickers Commission is set to be published on 21 September, and, at one stage, it seemed as though its proposal for a ringfence between investment and retail banking might keep all sides of the government satisfied. But with Vince Cable still pushing for a more complete separation of the two, and Diamond pushing in the opposite direction, this could yet descend into viciousness and bloodshed.
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