The Liberal Democrat warned an audience of bankers at the BBA annual conference an independent Scotland would have an economy imbalanced in favour of financial services. He said financial services currently counted for 10% of Scottish onshore economic activity.
“The sector in Scotland is very large relative to the Scottish economy. As part of the UK, the size of our economy allows us to pool risk and support Scotland’s world class financial services sector.
“I believe as a country we are at our strongest when we are open, engaged with the world, showing leadership and shaping the future. Now is not the time for either Scotland or the UK to give in to narrow nationalism. Both of those issues transcend politics.”
With the Scottish independence referendum less than a year away and the rise in popularity of UKIP across England continuing, Alexander said voters must think of the long-term consequences and called on the financial services industry to speak out on these issues.
“It’s not like a general election where if you don’t like the government that has been elected you get another go in five years’ time. If Scotland leaves the UK or Britain leaves the EU there is no going back. I want the banking industry to be counted in both of those debates. The debate in Scotland is well underway and could have a huge impact on our financial sector.”
In the same speech Alexander praised the impact of the government’s Funding for Lending Scheme, stating that upcoming changes would increase competition between lenders.
“It is crucial to our future growth that the banking sector helps to invest in British businesses. That’s why in April we chose to extend the Funding for Lending Scheme by a further year and I’d like to thank the seven major lenders who agreed in July to publish their business lending data across 10,000 postcodes.
“This means that from next year businesses will be able to see exactly where the major banks are lending and more importantly where they are not.
“It should help encourage competition by helping smaller lenders to indentify gaps in the market and it will allow businesses to hold their local banks to account. I’m hopeful this is a small change which will have a big impact.”
