News

A Conservative Party Conference event organised by the City of London and the Financial Times was held on 5 October entitled Delivering Economic Recovery: the role of Financial Services. Ken Clarke, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business was joined on the panel by Stuart Fraser, Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee of the City of London and Simon Walker, the Chief Executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. The event was chaired by Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times.

Mr Clarke stressed the importance of getting the financial services industry back to its crucial role in the British economy. He said that the problems in financial services had a strong bearing on the recovery of the rest of the economy. He highlighted that loans to business were down 22 per cent on last year and 10 per cent on the year before. Simon Walker, Chief Executive of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, said that no part of the financial services industry could do more to facilitate economic recovery than private equity. He pointed to successes such as Crown Paint in Darwen, Lancashire, where private equity firm Endless had stepped in and saved 1,300 jobs. He said that private equity involvement increased productivity by on average five times and that this was exactly what the British economy needed most for economic recovery. He admitted that private equity had made mistakes too and had been intoxicated by cheap and easy credit he argued that the industry had learnt from its mistakes. Simon Walker expressed hope that a Conservative government would encourage private equity to help deliver economic recovery.