THE idiom goes that if you want to keep a secret, then announce it on the floor of the House of Commons.
This counts for double in the subdued environs of the House of Lords. So it is not surprising that a telling intervention in the limited debate over the future of two of Scotland's most important financial institutions, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland's owner Lloyds Banking Group, has gone largely unnoticed.
Lord McFall of Alcluith took to the red benches to warn against a "hasty sell-off" of the Government's stake in the part-nationalised banks before the problems that led to the financial crisis have been resolved. "We need not just to reform but to rebuild from the floor up," he said. "We cannot afford to apply a sticking plaster to the system."
When still mere John and MP for West Dunbartonshire, Lord McFall led the robust Treasury committee interrogations that identified many of the factors behind the collapse of RBS and Halifax Bank of Scotland. If he doesn't think they have been resolved we really should pause for reflection.
Yet, movement towards a pre-election sale of at least some of the Government's holding in Lloyds and RBS is gathering momentum. George Osborne wants to "set out the way ahead" for reprivatisaiton this summer. RBS's directors talk of a sell-off beginning in 2014. And a target based on Lloyds's seemingly arbitrary valuation on the Government's books has been cemented into the bonus conditions for its chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio.
The temptation to bolster Government coffers with a share sale is understandable. So spiky have relations become between some bank executives and the Chancellor it is no wonder both sides relish spending more time apart. But it is not clear what banking reform we are seeking, let alone if we have achieved it.
Take RBS and Lloyds. Is the priority to make them safe, more valuable, or to ensure they provide finance to UK business? Each of these options requires a different approach. Each objective is prioritised by different arms of the state, the Bank of England, the Treasury and UK Financial Investments, which manages the taxpayers' investments.
And what about the increase in banking competition that was meant to come. Where are the new players?
Lloyds's bid to sell its Verde portfolio, including Lloyds TSB Scotland, to Co-operative Bank collapsed. So too has Royal Bank of Scotland's branch sale to Santander. What we have is a few newbies nibbling around the edges, such as Tesco Bank, which focuses on its supermarket customers, or Shawbrook which operates in niche business segments. Such reform as has been announced, such as ring-fencing banks' retail banking arms from their investment banks, has not yet been implemented. But it is hard to see there has been fundamental change in the conditions that prevailed before the credit crunch that allowed banks to rip-off high street customers with dodgy products and saw investment bankers pursue socially useless deals in the hope of big bonuses.
What is known is that after re-privatisation the Government's reform options and its influence will be much less. What then if the sticking plaster comes loose?
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