Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)

I have had more experience with banks than I wanted to have. I am still dealing with four different banks and have had positive and negative experiences with them. In my 20 years dealing with them, I never found them easy to deal with but they have moved the goalposts a good bit in the past couple of years and it is a very different world. While I admit I took risks and they took risks, the attitude they have taken now is very aggressive and it is as if I was the only one who took risks. The notion that we would work together has very much disappeared because although we worked together for a long time, that is obviously history now and they have taken a different approach.

Once upon a time in this country we saw the banks as utilities that worked hand in hand with the people, the State, small and medium size businesses and large businesses - they were definitely seen as utilities. That came to an end in recent years as the high street bank we knew became partially an investment bank as well. It appeared as if they were not making the decisions any longer, and the markets and the ratings agencies probably had more sway than those making decisions at grassroots level in the banks in any town or city in the country.

There was much talk in 2008 and 2009 about laying down new ground rules for how banks should behave. One of the areas was of course in regard to bonus schemes. It was interesting to read this week in the Financial Times that the British banks paid out Stg£14 billion in bonuses last year. While they make up 14% of the working population of Britain, they paid out 40% of the bonuses, so very little seems to have changed and they seem to have recovered well from the hiccup. Now that the taxpayers of states all over the planet have come to their rescue, it seems as if it will be business as usual again for the banking institutions.

The State must be very strict in how it monitors banking behaviour. We cannot depend on banks to behave in an ethical fashion or expect them to behave as if they are a utility that will serve the people. While I have no problem with banks making money, there must be some ethics involved and some sense of responsibility. When they lend money to people, they cannot just throw them to wind when it suits them. Unfortunately, that is what is happening at present.

Whether the Government feels it can only do what is being done at an international level, I do not know. However, it would be great if our country adopted a very strict policy on how banks work. We know that some countries, such as Canada, had a much tighter hold on banking behaviour than many others. We can learn something from them. We have certainly learned that we cannot leave the banks to their own devices to work unfettered. If the State is going to come to their rescue when problems arise, surely the State has the power to call the shots at all times with the banks.

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