Barclays CEO: Risk-taking banks essential for UK growth

Laura Miller
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Banks must be allowed to take risks if they are to step up to George Osborne's plans for a private sector-led recovery, Barclays CEO Bob Diamond told MPs this morning.

He told the Treasury Select Committee (TSC) the UK must hand the "mantle of growth" from the public sector to banking and the wider private sector. The TSC evidence session is part of its inquiry into competition and choice in banking. Diamond, who succeeded John Varley as CEO on 1 January on a reported £1.35m-a-year salary with a potential £8m bonus this year, told MPs poor risk management led to the failures of Northern Rock, RBS and Lloyds. But he refused to accept that big bonuses combined with only limited personal liability for failures among bank staff lead to unhealthy risk...

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