John Varley, the chief executive of Barclays bank, today suggested that Pres Obama's plans to reduce risk in the financial sector would not prevent another financial crisis in the future. This comes at a time when yet again the worldwide banking sector is under pressure and under attack from various governments and authorities around the world. Indeed Pres Obama recently suggested a bank levy to improve the speed of repayment of taxpayer funds used to bail out the sector.

There is a growing feeling that the various changes suggested by the US authorities may have a short-term impact upon the sector with their long-term impact debatable. As we have mentioned on numerous occasions, the financial sector is the engine room of the worldwide economy and without it we could see a reduction in liquidity for consumers and businesses alike. It is also worth remembering that many of the financial services and financial investments available today would never have materialised unless risks had been taken when venturing into new and relatively uncharted financial markets.

It will be interesting to see the final make-up of the proposed US banking levy because already we are seeing signs that the authorities are backtracking and looking to reduce the impact these changes may have in the short term.

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