Last weekend, Birmingham hosted the first national conference for ‘Bully-Banks’, the 1,300 strong members’ campaign group set up in response to bank mis-selling of Interest Rate Swap Agreements (IRSAs).
Tessa Munt addressed a crowd of over five hundred, all victims of the bullying behaviour of British banks.
Tessa said “Several local businesses and individuals have contacted me about this shocking behaviour and I have had more contact me since. Just hours before the conference, the Financial Services Authority revised its estimate of the numbers of businesses affected upwards from 28,000 to 40,000.”
”People have been treated appallingly, and I have heard local businesspeople tell of being brought to their knees by unfair and heavy-handed treatment by our leading banks. Relationship banking was abandoned years ago in exchange for aggressive selling of dodgy derivatives and insurance. Being at the Bully-Banks conference really brought home the strength of numbers and the power of collective action.”
”My boss, Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, was keen that I attend the conference to hear first-hand the problems that businesses face. If we are to return to a period of growth in the country, the banks have to work with, and not against, business. Vince is already implementing a split between casino investment banking and mainstream personal and business banking which should improve things. He’s the only politician to have been advising that course of action since the Spring of 2000!”
Tessa welcomed the work that ‘Bully-Banks’ has done to raise awareness and help its members. When Parliament returns, Tessa will be reporting back to Vince in detail what she learned.
10th October 2012