Governor hits out at banks who could not face up to failure

Sir Mervyn said the country’s banks blamed him for not offering more support during the crisis because they could not “face up” to their own failures and the need for a restructured model.

“I think it is because they found it very, very difficult to face up to the failure of their banking model.

“That model needs to be restructured,” he said.

“My duty was to Britain’s economy as a whole and not just to one part of it,” he added.

Sir Mervyn criticised the banks for trying to stay outside market discipline, until they were forced to ask for bailouts as the economy began to tailspin.

He said “market discipline can’t apply to everyone except banks”, which is a contributing factor to the public anger against them which is “very real and wholly understandable”.

Some of Britain’s top banks are warning that they will move abroad unless a less “hostile” successor to Sir Mervyn is appointed when his term as governor comes to an end next year.