RSA Thursday - Banking in the Wake of the Crisis: how will confidence be restored?

12th Nov 2009; 13:00

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A year on from the peak of the financial and economic crisis, UK banking is entering a new phase, with the recent announcement that the major high-street players, who had undergone part-nationalisation, are to be broken up to encourage greater diversity and competition and to breathe new life into the sector.

But with bonuses re-appearing, and difficulties over agreeing regulation reform, is it time to consider whether our banks and bankers have really learned the lessons of the crisis? Are we in danger of falling into a dangerous cycle once more and returning to “business as usual”?

A panel of experts gather at the RSA to assess the current state of the UK banking sector and address a range of key questions:

Can the public fully regain trust in bankers? How soon will confidence be restored and banks be solvent enough to resume lending? How will the taxpayers’ stake in the banks shape decision-making in the coming months? Can the financial sector respond to Lord Turner’s call to fulfil a more socially useful function? Will the banks be able to emerge from the crisis as more prudent, well capitalised, better balanced institutions?

Speakers to include: John Kay, economist, FT columnist and author of The Long and the Short of It and Dr Heather McGregor,  director, Taylor Bennett and journalist.

Chair: Edmund Conway, economics editor, the Telegraph

Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #rsabanks

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