'Greed is good' banking must be tackled hard: Durkan

Pledging to continue campaigning for an overhaul of the banking system if he is re-elected to the House of Commons he said: “I have been contacted by many small local businesses since the banking crisis began because they can’t get the credit they need to operate or to expand. While we got commitments about lending to business customers and households, there are still major problems.”

He said bank reform has to be a major issue in the new Parliament and it must be got right for the sake of local jobs and families.

“The public have had to bail out these banks for billions of pounds. Every man, woman and child in Derry has contributed 1,000 to the company owning Ulster Bank.

“Since Christmas, we have learned that RBS/Ulster Bank is paying out 3.6 billion in bonuses to senior staff - even though it has lost 54 billion this year!” he exclaimed.

“The group has also missed its target for lending money to businesses in a year when family firms in Derry have told me how they have been refused loans for viable plans. It is outrageous and that is why I have joined a new campaign for wholesale banking reform.

“The contrast between its treatment of senior staff and Ulster Bank’s lower paid staff is stark. Working with their trade union, I have raised this with the bank, the British Treasury and in Westminster,” he added.

He said he believed a destructive “greed is good” culture has to be tackled hard.

“Warm words are not enough,” he added. “The head of RBS/Ulster Bank said some bankers’ pay was ‘way too high’ and vowed to cut it. Then he accepted a 9.6 million pay packet. It has to stop.”