Banks responsible for over a third of UK economic slump

The UK economy is currently 4% smaller than its peak in March 2008 and 2.8% smaller than in September 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed, the Telegraph reports. Of the 2.8% fall, the contraction in banking activity has accounted for one percentage point, analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures shows. The impact banks have had on the economy is completely disproportionate to the industry's size, the paper reports. Banks account for just 5.1% of national output, but are to blame for around 35% of the national decline even excluding the knock-on effect of tighter credi...