Govt to establish agency to manage bank stakes

Alistair Darling will today unveil details of the arm’s-length agency that will manage the £37 billion in stakes the government agreed with banks.

Alistair Darling, the chancellor, will today unveil details of the arm’s-length agency that will manage the £37 billion in stakes the government agreed with banks to help them in the credit crisis.

The Treasury said the agency’s staff would be tasked with monitoring the lending activities of the banks to ensure that they fulfill the pledge to ensure funding of small businesses.

Ministers have been in talks with high-street lenders to rewrite their voluntary code on lending to small businesses to ensure that customers are given reasonable notice before loans and overdrafts are axed or made more expensive.