We need a stronger local banking and credit union network
Responding to publication today (10 March) of a report 'Banking for the Common Good' - that calls for new stakeholder banks linked through a government-owned network - Patrick Harvie MSP, Finance and Economy spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, said:
"Bank customers and the wider Scottish economy both remain at risk from a largely-unreformed banking sector. Today's report underlines what the Scottish Greens have long argued - that we need a stronger local banking and credit union network to give people more choice, support lending to small businesses and create resilience to withstand future financial shocks.
"Turning publicly-owned RBS into a network of local banks, like the German Sparkassen model, is something we proposed three years ago. We hope today's report puts pressure on the Scottish Government to take this idea seriously."
Today's report is a collaboration between Friends of the Earth Scotland, the New Economics Foundation, the Common Weal and Move Your Money.
Scottish Greens banking briefing from 2013