The statement came during an interview with the BBC. Darling said that the origin of the crisis was with the banks, who were buying and selling products "that they didn't understand." He agreed with Lord Turner, Head of the Financial Services Authority, that the crisis was "cooked up in trading rooms."
"It's hardly surprising then that there's this almighty car crash. The tragedy is that it wasn't them [the bankers] that suffered," Darling said. "It was everybody else because the world economy plunged into a recession."
Darling believed that banks should "build up the capital, build up the buffers for the future, so they shouldn't be paying money out in dividends, or huge bonuses."
"The key thing to get across to bankers is that for them the party has got to be over," he said.
G20
These comments come right before the G20 summit in Pittsburgh today and tomorrow, where among other issues, world leaders will be discussing the financial crisis. Darling has revealed a policy he wants to put forward at the summit, in order to have it agreed at the G20 finance ministers' summit in November. Darling aims to have a blacklist of regulatory havens, countries where the rules and regulations companies have to follow are less onerous.
"People can set up in the Caribbean or South America, the regulators here can't get the sort of information they want and that sort of secrecy leads to instability," he said. "I think we can get an agreement this weekend to outlaw that sort of activity."
PUBLIC SPENDING
As well as tighter regulation for the banks, Darling also said that we needed a "tighter public spending settlement" but that he thought it would be possible to protect frontline services. "It isn't just a choice of black and white, you either have lots of public services or switch the lights out."
"You need to do it in a measured, sensible way," Darling said. "Running at it with a machete is just ridiculous."
"It's hardly surprising then that there's this almighty car crash. The tragedy is that it wasn't them [the bankers] that suffered," Darling said. "It was everybody else because the world economy plunged into a recession."
Darling believed that banks should "build up the capital, build up the buffers for the future, so they shouldn't be paying money out in dividends, or huge bonuses."
"The key thing to get across to bankers is that for them the party has got to be over," he said.
G20
These comments come right before the G20 summit in Pittsburgh today and tomorrow, where among other issues, world leaders will be discussing the financial crisis. Darling has revealed a policy he wants to put forward at the summit, in order to have it agreed at the G20 finance ministers' summit in November. Darling aims to have a blacklist of regulatory havens, countries where the rules and regulations companies have to follow are less onerous.
"People can set up in the Caribbean or South America, the regulators here can't get the sort of information they want and that sort of secrecy leads to instability," he said. "I think we can get an agreement this weekend to outlaw that sort of activity."
PUBLIC SPENDING
As well as tighter regulation for the banks, Darling also said that we needed a "tighter public spending settlement" but that he thought it would be possible to protect frontline services. "It isn't just a choice of black and white, you either have lots of public services or switch the lights out."
"You need to do it in a measured, sensible way," Darling said. "Running at it with a machete is just ridiculous."
