Tuesday 26 June 2012

"Labour MP: Bankers show criminal zeal"

From the BBC:

Bankers show "criminal instinct" which could be channelled into illegitimate business, the shadow business secretary will argue.

In a speech, Chuka Umunna will say the skills used by the banks to organise and brand themselves could be used to start successful criminal rackets. He will argue redirecting the energies of the financial services sector could provide them with "a useful sideline".

Mr Umunna is chair of the London Business Forum. The Labour MP, who sees crime as central to Labour's approach to increasing social mobility, will focus on the London area of Lambeth, where his constituency of Streatham is. He is expected to say what most bankers do is "completely unacceptable anyway" and many financiers could achieve success in racketeering if their energies were redirected.

'Legitimate means'

He will say: "If one studies what Lambeth's financial services industry do in more detail, it is both shocking and frustrating - they put a lot of effort into building up their bank's brand. You can find the annoying adverts they produce to promote their activities on YouTube. This brand building is shocking because it glamorises what they do.

"What frustrates me is many of these young people are using skills that if channelled in the right way, would provide them with an alternative route to success. Their venality, used in an illegitimate business setting, could provide them with a useful sideline.

Mr Umunna will say that hedge fund managers view their involvement and activities as a way of "getting out and getting on". Mortgage salesmen seek "to make money first through legitimate means, with a view to building up enough finance to run a money laundering operation later".

"We must make the shadow economy a more feasible avenue through which our young people can realise their dreams even when they have bled aspiring homeowners dry," he will say.

6 comments:

Lola said...

Chukka Umunna's initials are only two away from describing him accurately.

Anonymous said...

Jesus H. Christ. And people seriously believe that he could be a Labour PM.

Ian Hills said...

Maybe he's thinking of his ancestors. In the west you start as a crook, then turn legit once you've made your pile.

Anonymous said...

Why does anybody bother making speeches any more when the media tells us what they "will say" the day before, and provides a handy summary too?

Lola said...

I've thought of another one...

Chukka Umunna MP

Mark Wadsworth said...

J, it's far funnier than that. They send out press releases with the wording of their speeches, but of course there are often last minute changes, so they caveat the press release with "Check against delivery" at the top.

If you track down a speech in the MSM, you often find the words "Check against delivery" at the top as if it were part of the speech!.

I think I'll actually start saying "Check against delivery" at the start of my speeches in future :-)