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The governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, has renewed calls for reform of the banking industry.
Sir Mervyn said that more money from banks' shareholders' should be "on the line", to make banks more careful in choosing to whom they lend.
He added that recommendations made by Sir John Vickers, including ring-fencing retail bank operations, should be enacted "sooner rather than later".
He also admitted the BoE should have done more to avert the banking crisis.
"With the benefit of hindsight, we should have shouted from the rooftops that a system had been built in which banks were too important to fail, that banks had grown too quickly and borrowed too much, and that so-called 'light-touch' regulation hadn't prevented any of this," he said as he gave the annual Today Programme Lecture in London.
However, David Blanchflower, a former member of the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee, accused Sir Mervyn of being "disingenuous".
"If Mervyn King had thought more regulation was important he could've done something about it. And because he didn't he must take responsibility for the fact the Bank of England missed the biggest financial crisis in a century," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
Sir Mervyn said that three reforms topped his list: regulation, resolution and restructure.
From next year, the BoE's new Financial Policy Committee will have the power to regulate banks.
"When, as it will, the economy returns to normal, our role will be to take away the punchbowl just as the next party is getting going," Sir Mervyn said.
The biggest risk to banks at present, he said, was from the troubles in the eurozone, which were "far from over".
"That's why we've been pushing for banks to pay out less to their shareholders and employees and instead retain profits as a cushion against possible losses.
"We need to ensure that more of banks' shareholders own money is on the line, and banks rely correspondingly less on debt. If banks and their shareholders have more to lose, they will be more careful in choosing to whom they lend."
He acknowledged that from time to time a bank would fail, so the BoE needed to ensure that one could do so safely.
A resolution mechanism is needed - a special legal framework that would allow a failing bank to continue to provide essential services while its finances are being sorted out.
"It's precisely what was lacking when Northern Rock failed in 2007, leaving nationalisation as the only alternative," he said.
Finally he re-iterated his support for the recommendations made by the Independent Commission on Banking, chaired by Sir John, on restructuring the banking system.
The main idea concerns ring-fencing High Street banking operations so that they have their own financial cushions in case something goes wrong with the rest of a bank's operations, such as at its investment bank business.
"It's vital that Parliament legislates to enact these proposals sooner rather than later," Sir Mervyn said.
Having been governor since 2003, Sir Mervyn will leave the BoE next year when his second five-year term comes to an end.
Paul Tucker, a deputy governor at the BoE, is tipped to replace him.
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