Drive to restore trust in financial services

SCOTTISH Financial Enterprise (SFE), an industry body for Scotland's beleaguered financial services firms, has joined forces with a UK-wide organisation led by the Lord Mayor of London in an effort to redeem the reputation of the industry.

Lord Mayor Nick Anstee told a select audience of SFE members last week that since the crisis the industry had been under a "sustained attack" which has created a "toxic environment" for financial services companies.

Anstee, who is heading up the new body, TheCityUK, said he aimed to "restore trust" in the City as well as other UK financial centres.

Anstee, who took over the Lord Mayor's office in November, has already won concessions from the campaigning Conservatives who have demanded the imposition of a 1 billion bank levy, some of which would be spent on tax breaks for married couples. Anstee claimed the Tory demand for a UK-only levy was "bonkers".

Conservative leader David Cameron agreed the levy would be imposed in the expectation that it will be implemented internationally. But the party also pledged to press ahead unilaterally with the move if necessary – although that would be on a far more limited basis and raise less.

Anstee said both Edinburgh and Glasgow were "very much part of the Square Mile financial cluster."