British MPs 'should probe US banks'
British MPs should investigate American banks, a Treasury Select Committee member has said.
Labour MP John Mann called on Parliament to probe the operations of US financial institutions in the same way Senators have carried out inquiries into British banks.
He said: "We need to get ahead of the game. We should be tackling not just our banks but the American banks.
"That's our weakness. Let our Parliament be looking into their problems as well as our problems, because it is an international problem.
"Don't just sit back and allow them to make all the running, because there is a competitive disadvantage if we allow that to continue happening."
His call came after US regulators censured Barclays earlier this year over its role in fixing Libor, the interest rate at which banks lend each other money, and after a Senate sub-committee last month accused HSBC of laundering drugs money.
The Bassetlaw MP said Westminster should retaliate by launching investigations into American banks.
"The language and narrative is highlighting London and Britain as the problem, but not highlighting what's going on at the same time, in taking American banks to task and to court for precisely the same thing," he said.
