Banks

Money held by solicitors for their clients have to be held in special accounts known as client accounts. Client accounts are ring fenced so that if a firm of solicitors goes belly up the creditors of that firm are unable to access the client account money. It will instead be repaid in total to those to whom it belongs. Whenever solicitors steal client account money the shortfall is made up out of a fund to which all solicitors contribute. Money deposited in a bank by its customers should be treated in the same way. First of all, unless the customer agrees otherwise, it should be held in a ring fenced account that only the customer can access and secondly the banks should pay a certain amount into a fund that is available only for the purpose of making good any shortfall should a bank lose its customers' funds. Those within the bank responsible for the loss of customer funds should be made criminally liable in the same way as a solicitor who has stolen client account money is criminally liable. With this kind of structure the banks would not then need to split off their high street business arm from the other riskier things they do. There is no doubt the banks, including those who did not need bailing out by the taxpayer, bear part of the liability for the credit crunch and taxing them now they are making profits again seems a good idea of Osborne's despite the childish remarks of one Ed Balls, one of the men who was also responsible for the credit crunch.