Banks' penalty 'hit list' slammed
Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs have attacked the Competition Commission for drawing up a list of penalties for banks who have abused monopoly power - before finding any of them guilty.
The ‘hit list’ includes the threat of a windfall tax on bank profits, which the Commission issued before completing its inquiry on banking services to the SME sector.
Shadow trade and industry secretary David Heathcoat-Amory said he was ‘astonished’ the Commission should trawl possible punishments before finding any banks guilty of operating against the public interest.
The accountant MP said: ‘Some of these ideas are either impractical or dangerous.’
‘A profits tax would do nothing to help small businesses. It would simply swell the coffers of the Treasury,’ he said.
And Liberal Democrat small business spokesman Brian Cotter said he was ‘surprised the Commission have drawn up that particular recommendation and are talking about a tax on profits at this stage’.
He added: ‘What I would be looking for from the banks would be a new code of banking practice towards small businesses.’
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Loans are still available – but banks aren’t lending money for nothing