Businesses unconvinced on bank reforms
Businesses in the West Midlands remain unconvinced that bank reforms will prevent another financial crisis, the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group has said.
According to data compiled by the group, 37.5 per cent of those it surveyed are "not very confident" and 12.5 per cent are "not confident at all" that plans to ring-fence retail and investment banks will prevent another crisis.
However, 56.3 per cent of respondents believe the plan for banks to hold a higher capital reserve would result in less lending to businesses.
Ross Gurdin, a policy adviser at the group, said: "The results of this survey highlight the wider impacts of banking reform and it is critical the proposed reforms do not harm the recovery by further undermining business confidence.
"It is vital that we do not sacrifice the ability of small and medium sized businesses to access finance in our attempts to remove some of the risk from the financial sector."
