Chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association Angela Knight CBE was guest speaker at a client dinner jointly hosted for the second year in succession by the Institute of Financial Services (IFS) Isle of Man Centre and the Isle of Man Bankers’ Association at the Palace Hotel on Friday May 6. In his welcome address local IFS president Ian Hamilton said both bodies were committed to working collaboratively to contribute to the future economic prosperity of the Isle of Man despite the global financial downturn. In his reply Isle of Man Bankers’ Association president John Coyle spoke of the ‘tight bonds’ existing between banks and their clients and of the association’s ‘cautious optimism’ that sustainable economic growth could be achieved in partnership with government. In her opening remarks Mrs Knight observed that in the light of subsequent world events in the banking industry it was perhaps fitting she had taken up her post as BBA chief executive in 2007 on April 1. ‘Since then just about everything that could happen, has happened,’ she said. She spoke of how regulation ‘never goes away’. ‘The world is “doing regulation”’, she said, adding that the UK was bound by both national and European regulatory legislation. ‘The G-20 wants to make banks safe…and even accountants don’t get away scot-free,’ she said, adding that G-20’s recommendations for the industry’s recovery would impact not only on the banks, but also on their customers in terms of costs and availability of services. Banks were operating with more capital and liquidity but she expressed concern regarding the common misconception ‘that you can change how banks are regulated with the only effect being on the banks.’ It was, she said, ‘Simply not correct. Changing regulation will have economic and societal impacts,’ and she added that it was the price that would be paid for financial stability but this needed to be ‘openly and unemotionally’ debated so people could express their views. In the ‘wider world’ of working towards economic recovery the Far East had ‘got to grips with their economy’, the US had defaulted to capitalism but Europe had defaulted to regulation. It was a situation, she observed, that was putting the economies of Europe at a competitive disadvantage. She said initiatives were needed on business lending and in the retail sector that would engender confidence. ‘In Britain we have a history of building world-class industries, but also a history of losing world-class industries,’ she said, the losses caused, in the main, she believed, through ill-judged taxation or regulatory measures resulting in businesses becoming uncompetitive. She added: ‘We must not lose financial services. To avoid doing so, governments, policymakers and regulatory authorities should work together and with the industry.’ During the dinner, a charity raffle was held raising ?2,446 which will be divided equally between Craig’s Heartstrong Foundation and Rebecca House Children’s Hospice. ENDS