Christian financial advisors call for curb on bankers' greed

There have been fresh calls for tougher bank regulation to curb a culture of greed and prevent a further financial crisis. The Association of Christian Financial Advisers is urging Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, to stand up to the banks – and for borrowers to learn to live within their means.

 Attacking the bonus culture, ACFA chairman Aidan Vaughan said: "The public is angry when they see bankers again earning huge bonuses, when it is tax payers’ money that has rescued the day. For most people, taxes are rising, wages are static, inflation is rising, living standards are falling and government expenditure is being cut dramatically.

"The banking crisis of the last two and a half years has been the result of a 60-year credit explosion, plus a toxic combination of unrestrained greed, globalisation and loose government regulation. The basic biblical principle of ‘spending less than you earn’ has been ignored on a massive scale.

"We are concerned at unrestrained investment banking activities causing even bigger crises in the future. ACFA strongly encourages Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, to stand up to the banks."

ACFA, which speaks up for Christian standards in the financial sector, is also calling for the break-up of failed banks RBS and HBOS. ‘The Government [should] consider breaking up these two monolithic organisations to encourage more competition for high street and commercial banking services," said Aidan Vaughan.

"In many instances the wide gap between paltry bank savings rates, high commercial lending rates, plus large arrangement fees is unjustifiable and borders on exploitation. The Government should force the banks to develop lending to Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs)," he added

"Short-termism and the 'inflated bonus culture' should be seen as what they are - greedy and counter-productive.

"Whilst few in the nation are blameless, we are all borrowers in one way or another, it is time to ‘live within our means’ and effectively save for all our futures. Failure to do this will mean that ultimately the bugbear of inflation will steal all our livelihoods away and the inexorable drift of economic power eastwards will gather pace.

"Fundamentally, the bond of trust between the public and banks needs to be restored."

ACFA is the UK network of Christian financial advisers and related professionals. It aims to be the voice of Christian financial advice and champions best practice in the UK. The ACFA website offers links to Christian financial advisers across the UK.

For more information see: www.christianfinancialadvisers.org.uk