After the 2007-8 financial crisis, the most common response from politicians and other public figures was for more regulation. John argued that what was needed was not more regulation, but better regulation. In 2009 The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation published Narrow Banking, in which he discussed the reform of banking regulation. It focused on structural reform that would ‘separate the Casino from the Utilty’, allowing banks to fail whilst safeguarding retail deposits. This concept has since won widespread support, and was a central theme in the Independent Banking Commission’s report, led by Sir John Vickers, which was released on the 12th September 2011. Read John’s latest thoughts on this subject in this FT article, Don’t listen to the lobbyists: they never go away.
