Why should companies be banks and banks not? The real challenge for the European Commission

Sir, I refer to Sarah Gordon’s “Juncker’s plan needs companies to open up their healthy coffers” December 30.

And I ask why should companies turn into banks? Why should companies finance “Europe’s younger and smaller firms which, research suggests, create a disproportionate number of new net jobs”.

What’s wrong with banks financing these? And as banks would were it not for the credit-risk-weighted capital requirements for banks, which create such real hurdles for banks when financing what is perceived as “risky”… and this even though those “risky” could signify the safest way out of the crisis.

Who is going to stop the frankly idiotic bank regulations coming out of the Basel Committee? That would be the real challenge for the European Commission.