Darling to put pressure on banks
Dec 11 2008
Chancellor Alistair Darling is renewing a bid to get banks lending to businesses, saying the financial institutions are not currently doing enough.
The government minister declares he is 'prepared to do a number of things' to get banks lending again and is still monitoring the situation.
He says the banks must realise that billions of pounds of taxpayers' money has been ploughed into them and businesses are looking for something in return.
'Banks have to understand we put very substantial sums of public money in to support them, and they in turn have to play their part. They have to go very much further in terms of supporting companies and individuals,' he adds.
Darling states the banks have shown some encouraging signs, but still need to go a bit further.
The chancellor also told the Treasury select committee that another raft of government measures may be introduced to underwrite loans for businesses in an attempt to get lending moving again.
Darling reiterated his previous view, that he would not stop putting pressure on banks until they increased lending to the levels seen in 2007, before the credit crunch.
Earlier this week, HSBC revealed it has dedicated an extra £1 billion of money to lend to businesses, making the fund top £3.4 billion – a move which was praised by Darling.
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