On January 15, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) published a submission made to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.  The Commission was established in July 2012 with a remit to consider and report on professional standards in the UK banking sector, particularly in light of the LIBOR investigations.

The submission sets out potential ways in which banking standards might be raised, which are summarized in the covering letter to the submission as follows: 

• strengthening the existing framework by increasing regulatory training, focusing on enforcement, extending the scope of the existing approved persons regime to cover an increased number of roles and putting in place an overarching requirement for all bank employees to adhere to the approved persons principles;
• establishing an overarching professional standards body to promote existing standards and produce guidance/set additional standards for the training of all bank employees;
• and establishing the Banking Standards Review Council as an independent body to monitor ethical and professional standards in UK banks and to uphold an industry wide code of conduct.