HARVIE WELCOMES CALL FOR RBS TO BECOME LOCAL BANK NETWORK
Patrick Harvie, Scottish Green MSP for Glasgow and a member of Holyrood's economy committee, is renewing calls for reform of RBS as a new report backs the idea of turning the publicly-owned bank into a network of local banks to protect jobs and rebalance the UK economy away from London.
Today's report from the New Economics Foundation looks at public savings banks in Germany and Switzerland, estimating that the UK economy would have benefited by billions if a similar approach had been taken here.
The Green MSPs have previously called on the Scottish Government to negotiate the transfer of the RBS Scottish operations to create a network of locally-governed banks for Scotland's cities and regions.
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
"The public owns RBS so we should be putting it to good use rather than trying to return it to the free market system that took us to the brink. In recent years thousands of staff have paid the price while small and medium sized businesses with potential have access to finance restricted.
"It's clear we need a cultural shift in banking towards a more diverse sector. Today's report from NEF underlines how Germany's successful network of locally-accountable banks are a model we should be trying to copy."
Reforming RBS (New Economics Foundation)