Terry Murden: Groundhog Day as bank chiefs stand firm under Commons fire

WHATEVER Barclays boss Bob Diamond may have stated back in January that the time for apologies is over, it is clear that the banks still have plenty of explaining to do. Or maybe it is more a case of frustrated MPs not getting the answers they want to hear.

Four senior bankers endured another grilling in the Commons yesterday, but every session is beginning to feel a little more like Groundhog Day. Are the banks too big? Is there enough competition on the high street? Should bonuses be paid out of taxpayers' bail-out funds?

At least on the first two issues we've been here before, many times. And the answers are pretty well rehearsed. No-one expects the bankers to volunteer disposals, nor to accept that trimming them down to size would stimulate competition.

Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, went so far yesterday as to declare that the big banks issue was a red herring. He has a point. Only by having the scale to operate across regions and functions can any bank offer truly competitive prices to its customers.

If Britain forcibly breaks up its big banks we will all be left at the mercy of those international institutions that are under no pressure to downsize. These foreign banks will move in and buy up British banking plc. Far from seeing the high street dominated by the likes of Virgin and the Co-op it will be adorned with names such as Santander, BNP Paribas and possibly even National Australia Bank and one or two from the Gulf states.

Yesterday's hearing won't have achieved much, apart from further enraging those who feel helpless in their attempts to control the bankers' continuing arrogance. Hester's admission that some taxpayers' money may have helped fund bonuses poured more oil on open wounds, but with the bank 83 per cent owned by the taxpayer it would be difficult to imagine some of that money not making its way into bankers' pay packets.

He provided a more relevant point by arguing that the Independent Commission on Banking's (ICB) proposal only to offer a state-backed guarantee to high street banks may, perversely, encourage the sort of cavalier culture in this side of the business that the proposition is aimed at preventing.

Hester clearly believes the proposals for restructuring the banks risk undermining their value and, therefore, the returns the taxpayer can expect to receive when the state's share is sold.

Even after the best part of four hours of questioning, few of those listening yesterday will have changed already entrenched positions. But the implications of the ICB's proposals will give Chancellor George Osborne plenty to think about.

Further misery over oil prices as Opec slides into disarray

Members of oil producing body Opec decided to sit on their hands yesterday and leave oil production at current levels.Bad news for those expecting a lift in output that would have brought down the price of oil. The markets responded by edging oil upwards.

Oil prices have always had a political factor but yesterday's meeting and its outcome was particularly influenced by the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran and for once there were open admissions of disagreement among the usually unified 12 nation group. The Saudi oil minister, whose country had pushed for a rise in oil production for the first time since 2007, called it "one of the worst meetings we have ever had."

It had been hoped that raising supply targets by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day oil would plug the gap left by Libya and help calm the price.

But the Saudi-Iran divide overshadowed the meeting, worsened by Saudi Arabia's recent move to increase supplies of crude to India which will lessen India's dependency on Iran. The next meeting of Opec is three months away, but with the organisation said to be in disarray there are fears for its future against a backdrop of continuing unrest in some of the world's biggest oil producing nations.

With car sector in high gear, it's time to tool up manufacturing

When the bulldozers were moving in to demolish the biggest part of the Longbridge car plant and historic marques - Jaguar, Land Rover, MG, Mini - were sold to overseas buyers there were plenty of commentators ready to write obituaries to the British car industry.

Instead, it is flourishing. There may be no British-owned volume manufacturers left but the industry has rarely been in better shape, employing 700,000 workers and contributing 10 per cent of British exports.

Nissan is now adding to that tally with plans to build more of the already popular Qashqai.

The investment provides support for the government's plan to rebalance the economy towards manufacturing.

Business secretary Vince Cable should go further and instigate measures to stimulate a revival of the machine tools sector that once supplied the car industry and provided thousands of skilled jobs.