THERE was a headline last week that was brief, but important. It concerned Lloyds Bank being fined £28 million for the mis-selling of financial products to retail con - sumers – to the average man and woman on the street.

Now, in the grand scheme of things, £28 million no longer sounds like a big fine. Banks’ fines are now running into the hundreds of mil - lions if not billions, so £28 million seems just a drop in the ocean. But the Lloyds fine is very important for two reasons.

Firstly, all the other big fines relate to wholesale or corporate misde - meanours. This £28 million fine is actually the biggest ever UK retail banking fine. That in itself makes it very significant. But possibly the bigger point is that the vast major - ity of the big fines handed out over the last two or three years relate to offences that occurred before or during the financial crisis of around 2008. To a certain extent, the fines are tidying up the pre-crisis environ - ment. But not now.

In recent weeks, we have seen exposed the beginnings of a whole new raft of scandals. The collapse of Co-op Bank as a result of the purchase of Britannia Building So - ciety in 2010 was a significant event in itself. But behind that was the inescapable fact that the manage - ment of Co-op Bank were simply unable to run their bank and that was, it seems, a known fact as late as 2010.

The Rev Flowers scandal is a by- story to a breathtaking story of in - competence supported by political interference well after the lessons of the banking crisis should have been learned. And the same ap - plies to Lloyds. Fully two years after the banking crisis hit – from 2010 to 2012 – Lloyds’ managers started incentivising their staff to mis-sell products not suitable to the buyers.

Since being elected in 2010, I have been very heavily involved in banking reform. We have got rid of the massively discredited regulator and replaced it with a new one. And last week, we completed the Banking Reform Bill. From now on, managers of banks that fail may go to prison; senior managers now have personal responsibility for their banks.

The process of bringing about changes to the law is complete.

Now we have to implement it and make sure the banks get it right.

CONTACT YOUR MP

  • Email: mark.garnier.mp@parliament.uk
  • Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771
  • Write: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London