An interview with Lord Turner, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, appears in the September edition of Prospect Magazine. Lord Turner's observations have been widely reported in today's newspapers with front page reports in the Financial Times and Guardian. The Financial Times reports:The head of Britain’s top banking watchdog supports the idea of new global taxes on financial transactions, warning that a 'swollen' financial sector paying excessive salaries has grown too big for society. Adair Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, says the debate on bankers’ bonuses has become a 'populist diversion' and that more drastic measures may be needed to cut the financial sector down to size. He also says the FSA should 'be very, very wary of seeing the competitiveness of London as a major aim', claiming the city’s financial sector has become a destabilising factor in the British economy".
Meanwhile, the Guardian's report states:
The government's top financial regulator last night backed radical plans for a multibillion-pound tax on banks as a way to tackle the City's persistent bonus culture. Lord Turner ... warned bankers that he would support a new wave of taxes on the City to prevent excessive profiteering if they continue to take excessive risks. In a searing critique of the industry, Lord Turner described much of the City's activities as 'socially useless' and questioned whether it has grown too large".
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