Two Former Bankers Defend British Reform Plan - New York Times

Two former bankers defended the new industry changes proposed on Monday by a British panel, lashing out against one-time colleagues.

William T. Winters, a former co-head of JPMorgan Chase's investment bank, and Martin Taylor, a former chief executive of Barclays, told a press briefing on Monday that they had "no sympathy" for bankers arguing that the new rules would damage Britain's economy and banking sector.

Mr. Winters and Mr. Taylor are part of the Independent Commission on Banking, a government-appointed group that presented proposals on Monday for a wide-ranging banking overhaul to separate investment banking from deposit-taking operations in an effort to make banks more stable.

Banking representatives argued that the rules would be expensive and make Britain's banks less competitive. But Mr. Winters said the rules were "no disaster for British banks or the economy."

His comments came on the same day as Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase and Mr. Winters' former boss, told The Financial Times that the United States should consider pulling out of the so-called Basel group of global banking regulators because some rules were "anti-American."

Barclays declined to comment on the banking commission report on Monday, but Robert E. Diamond Jr., its chief executive, said previously the suggested separation of investment and retail banking "wouldn't be my first choice."

When asked about the banking industry's pay or compensation packages, John Vickers, the chairman of the commission, said "compensation is not the right word to describe the pay packages we've seen" in the industry recently. Mr. Winters tried to hide a grin.

"We've seen large pay packages out there at a time when taxpayers are on the hook for the banks," Mr. Vickers said. "If retail deposits were not used for investment banking it would go a long way in dealing with the issue."