FTAdviser.com

Advertising

Who is providing the capital is, for most of us, a secondary issue and one which is largely political in nature.

For the medium and longer term, I do have some concerns over the future ownership of western banks and institutions.

There are many regions of the world - such as the oil states, China and India - who now have huge sovereign funds and are looking to invest some of those monies in large companies in the developed world where they have good future potential. Western banks very much fall into that category.

We are likely to see much greater proportions of bank shares held by foreign companies and corporations which, over time, might have an increasing say on the way those banks are run.

Banks are fundamental to the commerce of the western world and it is very important we ensure their ownership remains principally in the developed world otherwise there could at some point in the future be a conflict of interests.

However, it should perhaps be added that in recent times, where, for instance, sovereign funds of oil rich countries have been used to buy large stakes in western companies, they have been primarily for investment purposes and those countries have not sought to influence the management.

Let us hope this would also be so for large holdings in western banks but I believe western governments do need to monitor the situation.

Keith Richards is group distribution and development director of Tenet