Building a New Public Banking Ecosystem 4 1 Introduction and Summary of Recommendations
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A NEW PUBLIC BANKING ECOSYSTEM A report to the Labour Party commissioned by the Communication Workers Union and The Democracy Collaborative Christine Berry Laurie Macfarlane This report is the work of independent experts and constitutes a report to the Labour Party’s Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell MP, and Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Rebecca Long-Bailey MP. It should not be taken to represent Labour Party policy. Contents List of fgures and tables 4 1 Introduction and summary of recommendations 5 2 The problems with the UK banking sector: what are we trying to achieve? 8 3 Design principles: how can new institutions help to overcome these problems? 14 4 The Post Bank: analysis and recommendations 26 5 RBS: analysis and recommendations 50 6 National Investment Bank: analysis and recommendations 62 7 Cross-cutting issues 71 Endnotes 74 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Summary of public banking ecosystem 7 Figure 2 Total stock of outstanding loans, UK banks (£ trillion) 8 Figure 3 Gross fxed capital formation (% of GDP) 10 Figure 4 Public sector gross investment as a % of GDP, UK 10 Figure 5 Gross domestic spending on R&D, 1981 – 2015 (% of GDP) 12 Figure 6 KfW functional divisions 22 Figure 7 Map of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across England 31 Figure 8 Structure of new Post Bank 32 Figure 9 Network subsidy payment (£ millions) 43 Figure 10 Post Ofce revenues (£ millions) 43 Figure 11 Major UK banks’ leverage ratios 44 Figure 12 Bank of Ireland UK plc – balance sheet in 2017 45 Figure 13 Return on equity by banking product 46 Figure 14 Projected proftability of the Post Bank (£ million) 47 Figure 15 Total state aid expenditure as a % of GDP in 2015 49 Figure 16 RBS Share price 51 Figure 17 RBS organisational structure 54 Figure 18 Structure of National Investment Bank 64 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Assessment of diferent ownership models 36 Table 2 Proposed governance structure of the Post Bank 37 Table 3 Number of Post Ofce branches 41 Table 4 Financial projections of the Post Bank’s SME division 47 Table 5 Value of ordinary shares and govt stake at various prices 52 Table 6 Examples of products ofered by the NIB 66 Table 7 Proposed governance structure of the National Investment Bank 68 BUILDING A NEW PUBLIC BANKING ECOSYSTEM 4 1 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS Ten years on from the global fnancial crisis, our up with a separate management team and banking system is still not working for the many. separate accounting, and endowed with its own Despite having one of the largest banking sectors capital. in the world, the UK has a longstanding problem • The Post Bank should be given a public service of underinvestment. While billions of pounds are mandate to provide fnancial services according lent into the economy each year, most of this to clear principles set out in primary legislation. fows into property and fnancial markets, infating This should include a requirement to provide asset prices and destabilising the economy. access to basic retail banking services to UK banks continue to have low levels of public all citizens regardless of income, wealth, or trust, and have struggled to deal with scandals social status, and to contribute positively to concerning their conduct. Branch closures have the fnancial sustainability of the Post Ofce left many households and businesses without network. access to fair and afordable banking services. • The Post Bank should be established as a In order to address these problems, it will not be separate legal entity that is required to pay an enough simply to regulate existing banks more annual ‘access payment’ to the Post Ofce to heavily, or to rely on competition policy as the cover use of its assets, providing the Post Ofce current government is doing. Instead we need with a steady and reliable source of income. structural change – building a new banking system • The Post Bank should be owned under a public that puts the public interest frst. Labour’s 2017 trust model whereby ownership is held in trust Manifesto proposed the creation of several new for the public beneft in order to ensure the institutions designed to start this process: bank is able to fulfl its public service mandate • a Post Bank to provide a full range of retail and safeguard against future privatisation. banking services through the Post Ofce • The Post Bank should be governed by a network; Board of Trustees, comprising elected public • a National Investment Bank, supported by a representatives and relevant national and network of Regional Development Banks; and regional stakeholders, who would be charged with ensuring that the bank fulfls its public • a review of alternatives to re-privatisation for service mandate. RBS. • A comprehensive and legally binding services This report makes a series of recommendations agreement should be established between the on how each of these policies could be most Post Bank and the Post Ofce, which would set efectively designed to ft together as part of out the relationship between the two entities a coherent public banking ecosystem. Our with regards to issues such as branch access. recommendations have been informed by an extensive literature review, an expert roundtable, • The Post Bank should be set up in a and interviews with key stakeholders from the decentralised structure, with lending and UK and abroad. Our recommendations are decision making devolved to a series of summarised below. regional ofces, and which are not legally separate entities but have a high degree of In relation to the Post Bank, we recommend that: independence. • The partnership with Bank of Ireland UK should • The Post Bank head ofce should be be ended, and a new Post Bank should be set responsible for providing central support services such as IT, marketing, regulatory BUILDING A NEW PUBLIC BANKING ECOSYSTEM 5 compliance, access to the payments system and also seek to change the management team a treasury function. and corporate governance, stop further branch closures and exert pressure to reform the • The range of fnancial products and services bank’s culture to stamp out abuses. currently ofered through Post Ofce Money should be transferred to the newly established In relation to the National Investment Bank (NIB), Post Bank, and the Post Bank should seek we recommend that: to acquire the existing Bank of Ireland UK portfolio. • The NIB should be given a broad mandate to support the government’s industrial strategy, • The Post Bank should be capitalised by HM through the use of repayable fnancial Treasury with £2.5 billion of capital – to enable instruments. the acquisition of the Bank of Ireland UK portfolio and meet network investment needs • The NIB should consist of a head ofce located – and will be funded mainly by retail deposits, outside London, and 12 Regional Development including from personal current accounts, Banks located in each of the nine regions of business current accounts, and savings England, plus Scotland, Wales, and Northern products, as well as debt issued to fnancial Ireland. markets of varying maturities. • The NIB and Regional Development Banks • The Post Bank should seek to grow and expand should be structured around three operational its market share in the current account, savings, ‘arms’ – an enterprise arm, an infrastructure travel, insurance, and personal loan markets, arm, and an innovation arm. and establish a new business division focused • The NIB’s investment activities should initially on SME customers, which should be made a focus on three core areas which support strategic priority. Labour’s industrial strategy: decarbonisation • The Post Bank should seek to develop a and greening the economy, regional business model of ‘relationship banking’, rebalancing, and industrial transformation and whereby loans are de-risked through building economic democracy. up strong relationships and understanding the • The NIB should create products that target businesses it lends to, rather than relying on particular issues that are aligned with the the availability of collateral. government’s industrial strategy, rather than • The Post Bank should make its products and ofer generic products, to support structural services available through Post Ofce branches, change. over the phone, online, and via mobile banking. • The enterprise arm of the NIB should on-lend Various options, including developing in-house via bank intermediaries for customers that are capacity and partnering with a responsible small businesses. On-lending should be used fntech frm, should be considered as part of as a tool for promoting wider structural change ensuring that the new Post Bank is able to in the fnancial sector by lending through position itself at the forefront of the fntech favoured institutions such as the Post Bank. For revolution. medium and large frms, infrastructure projects and venture capital investments, the NIB should In relation to the future of RBS we recommend lend directly via the Regional Development that: Banks. • If a Labour government still has a majority stake • The NIB should be capitalised by the in RBS when it comes to power, it should halt government with £10 billion of paid in capital, plans for privatisation and retain a controlling and £10 billion of callable capital. The NIB majority shareholding in the bank. should subsequently conduct annual bond • The government should use its remaining issues to expand the NIB balance sheet to majority stake in RBS to proactively turn its approximately £250 billion over a ten year business model towards one that is more period. aligned with public interest objectives. In relation to a series of cross cutting issues, we • The government should look to sell or wind- recommend that: down certain banking divisions of RBS that are held outside the ringfenced bank.