HSBC: OVER-REGULATION MAY CAUSE NEW CRUNCH
HSBC chairman Stephen Green yesterday warned over-regulation of the City threatens to destabilise the financial services sector and send the economy spiralling back into recession.
Speaking at the Hermes and Canada asset management conference, Green said: “The impact of various measures currently under discussion for the enhancement of capital ratios, at the wrong stage of the economic cycle, could easily withdraw credit from the economy and drive a new credit crunch…We need an approach which is properly calibrated and phased, and co-ordinated across a wide range of jurisdictions, as we seek to turn fragile green shoots into sustainable recovery.”
Green said there was much right with the City as well as wrong and cautioned that “we must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater”.
City minister Lord Myners, also speaking at the conference, reiterated his call for shareholders to take responsibility for company actions, warning investors are “sleep-walking their way to another financial crisis”.