Commenting, Adrian Coles, Director-General of the BSA, said: "The backdrop to the Emergency Budget is one of highly challenging economic conditions as the Government seeks to shift focus from indebtedness to savings. The lowest Bank Rate in over three hundred years makes it difficult to attract retail deposits and in turn this has compounded the difficult issues faced by all institutions in accessing the wholesale markets. We are calling upon the Government to encourage savers, and maintain support for mortgage borrowers who may face difficulties in today's austere environment."
"The BSA is calling upon the Government to carefully assess whether and how the aggregate plans for repayment by all institutions of funding from the Credit Guarantee Scheme and Special Liquidity Schemes are consistent with the likely overall size of the wholesale and retail markets. The BSA believes there is a danger of significant strain that could lead to further disruption to both mortgages and savings, and that the Government should review the current repayment programme.
"We are calling upon the Government to maintain funding to help financially vulnerable homeowners at risk of losing their home. We believe there is a real need to review the effectiveness of current schemes, and commence a redevelopment of the public and private sector safety net, which should include revision of the current Support for Mortgage Interest programme. We also believe that the structure of Stamp Duty Land Tax should be reformed as the current system results in the bunching of transactions at prices just below the thresholds for different rates.
"We welcome the support for mutual financial institutions as stated in the Coalition's Programme for Government. We also note the plan to introduce a levy on banking and stress that should any levy be introduced it should be proportionate to the risk of a bank's activities or appropriation of excess profits -whether to shareholders or to management."
