There we have it, all British banks are required to split their gambling (errr, investment banking) activities from their real (commercial) banking services.

First the banks said this would be too expensive and all costs would be required to be passed on to their clients; then the government said they had 8 years to implement these changes; and now the banks are saying that if this is not implemented simultaneously, on a global scale, they will be at a competitive disadvantage.

Absolute nonsense, I am older than many, but not too old to be able to recall that throughout my banking career, in the 1970s, we were required scrupulously to keep these activities apart by creating a virtual Chinese Wall between them. And investment banking then was much closer to real banking than it is today!

So, if the banks continue insulting their customers’ intelligence, and government hasn’t got the guts (and brains) to tackle them, surely the time has come for the customer to strike back – if we all stop servicing our debts to banks and credit card companies on a coordinated basis, banks and government will quickly sit down and come up with solutions. By taking this direct action we shall at least control the timing of events, rather than wait for the inevitable next crash to propel us into yet another ill-thought out knee-jerk solution.

We are continually being told that today’s high interest rates and charges are a form of insurance to cover increases in problem borrowers. Well, let’s call on this insurance.

If somebody has the energy to take on the organisation of this demonstration of customer power, then on the day the banks and government are forced into emergency talks, we need to insist that customers are directly represented. This is essential, for we have seen how time & again customer needs and interests have been studiously ignored.