Business Blog: Back in black
Both of them cannot be right. You have banks claiming they are
lending to just about every business that wants a loan, and
businesses who claim that the banks are unhelpful, charge too much
or just say no.
The banks seem to imply that they only say no or charge a lot to
firms that are risky. Businesses say that perfectly good
propositions are being turned down.
The one obvious thing is that banks are back in the black again
and must invest more of their profits in enterprise. And they
should slap a ban on bonuses. While the taxpayer still owns a huge
chunk of some of them, and other private sector employees are
enduring pay freezes, it is just not good enough for banks to shell
out bonuses.
If they want to avoid being forever labelled greedy and
fair-weather friends, they should say no to the bonus culture for
several years.