Banks Should Be Handed Over to People’s Ownership: Matthew Lynn

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Banks Should Be Handed Over to People’s Ownership: Matthew Lynn
Commentary by Matthew Lynn


Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. government needs to start thinking about what it will do with all the banks it now owns. The answer is simple: Hand them to the people.

In the 1980s, Britain led the world with a radical economic experiment. Telecommunications systems, electricity generators, airlines, and other state assets were sold.

Privatization was such a huge success that much of the world copied the policy over the next decade.

In the next 10 years, the U.K. could try something similar.

Instead of selling the stakes it acquired in the financial system to other banks, or listing the shares on the stock market, it could create mutually owned societies. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc could be a people’s bank, owned by everyone.

That would ensure more diversity, competition and stability, all goals just as worthy as getting back the money Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government spent on bank rescues. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=amqH8lCSKz7E

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