The UK’s financial consumer advocate has proposed that bankers should be required to be licensed.
Speaking at a parliamentary hearing into banking standards Wednesday, Mike Dailly, working group chair with the Financial Services Consumer Panel, called for the creation of a mandatory, independent professional standards body for bankers.
“Bankers need to have the same high professional standards as doctors and solicitors. They need to be licensed by a mandatory professional body so that there is credible deterrence for unacceptable behaviour and risk taking,” he said.
The panel said that it believes that deep-rooted cultural problems in the banking industry, along with a lack of competition, is behind misselling scandals, unfair bank charges, and poor complaint handling.
“It is no longer acceptable to treat customers so poorly and nothing short of a revolution in attitudes to customers and behaviour is required,” Dailly said.
“For too long bankers have enjoyed great power without having to take responsibility for their actions,” he added. “No other profession has been allowed such a stranglehold on the economy and peoples lives without a code of ethical standards. Banking should be a profession where individuals know that if they fail to observe the highest standards of professional conduct they will be struck off.”