The news that the City of Birmingham (in the English Midlands, and not Alabama, USA *) has aspirations to become a bank causes me some mixed feelings. There is clearly a real need for the re-birth of regional banking in Britain, but the possibility that a local authority – which seems to have some difficulty running it’s existing statutory public services – should start lending Council Tax Payers’ money fills me with some trepidation.
My own view is that the (re-)development of a network of regional banks would fit well with the re-organisation of the English Regional Revelopment Agencies, as recently proposed @ http://janetmackinnon.blogspot.com The “business model” for such an enterprise would, however, need to be very carefully thought through, and demonstrate that the lessons of the current banking crisis (global and national) have been properly learnt.
* Birmingham Council recently commissioned a brochure which contained pictures of Birmingham, Alabama
The Witch of Worcester 