UK Banks Defend Lending At Treasury Summit Thursday

By Margot Patrick, Laurence Norman and Marietta Cauchi Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Bosses of the U.K.'s biggest banks Thursday pushed back against government claims they aren't doing their part to grow the economy by lending more to small businesses, at a meeting held between top executives and Treasury officials to discuss lending and coming regulatory reforms. The meeting covered the availability of funding for companies, financial reforms being made by the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, and remuneration. "We met the CEOs of the U.K.'s biggest banks as part of on-going discussions on regulatory reform, and the availability of credit. It was a very constructive meeting that will help inform the Government's Green Paper on business finance which will be published shortly," said Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills Vince Cable in a joint statement following the meeting. Also at the meeting were Financial Secretary of the Treasury Mark Hoban, Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) Chief Executive Officer Eric Daniels, Barclays PLC (BCS) Chief Executive John Varley, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) CEO Stephen Hester and HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) Chairman Stephen Green. Representatives for the banks and the British Bankers Association declined to comment further. Hoban in a speech on Monday said the government is considering additional taxes on financial company profits, and on Tuesday gave details of a planned GBP2.5 billion annual levy on banks. He said the Treasury will also ask the Financial Services Authority to consider fresh rules on bank pay and bonuses, if institutions don't take the lead themselves to put an end to outsized pay packages. FSA rules introduced last year and new EU regulations have already sharply curtailed the form and timing of bonuses for top bankers and traders. On lending--a sore point for the U.K. government as economic growth projections are downgraded--the Treasury has encouraged banks to increase lending levels. RBS and Lloyds in late March agreed to make GBP94 billion in gross loans available to businesses in the U.K. over 12 months. But they, as well as Barclays and HSBC, have said they aren't seeing heavy demand for loans and that existing facilities aren't fully drawn. -By Marietta Cauchi, Laurence Norman and Margot Patrick, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9451; margot.patrick@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 15, 2010 14:04 ET (18:04 GMT)