Banks have become casinos, trying to make money out of nothing, instead of a utility for handling people's money.

Fixing this problem involves more regulation, apparently. But all you're doing is supervising the casino.

Junior government officials do not have the capability or the authority to advise bankers paid multimillion pound salaries and bonuses against what, with hindsight, appear to be strategic business errors. How can the government succeed where the boards of those institutions could not?

There is a stark contrast between the size and power and profitability of the financial services industry and the poor service it delivers its customers. In most cases, the best advice on selecting from the myriad of financial products available is to buy cheap and do as much as you can yourself.

Because no one can regulate that the ordinary investor will always receive good advice. The economics of the business make it impossible. We pick our own clothes, our own furniture, our own food because the services of skilled, knowledgeable, impartial agents cost more than we are willing to pay. Whereas the complexity of financial services makes it difficult for us to go it alone.

From the Sunday Herald

Adrian Sie
Consultant in Paediatrics
Wishaw General Hospital
Netherton St
Wishaw
Lanarkshire
ML2 0DP
01698 361100 x7475
page 632