Banks demand ‘less hostile’ governor

Some of Britain’s top banks are warning they will move abroad unless a less “hostile” successor is appointed governor of the Bank of England when Sir Mervyn King leaves next year.

Sir Mervyn yesterday claimed that Britain’s banks are in denial about public anger over their behaviour.

And he criticised bankers for insisting everyone needed to live within “market disciplines” – until the financial crisis hit, when they asked for bail outs.

“Market discipline can’t apply to everyone except banks,” said Sir Mervyn, adding people’s anger was “very real and wholly understandable”.

Responding to attacks for failing to provide more support during the crisis, he said: “I think it is because they found it very, very difficult to face up to their failure of their banking model.”

He added: “That model needs to be restructured. My duty was to the United Kingdom economy as a whole.”