Volcker to Testify at U.K. Parliamentary Hearing on Banks

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who advised President Barack Obama, will give evidence to a panel of British lawmakers looking into the behavior of banks.

Volcker will testify on Oct. 17 to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, a cross-party panel of 11 members of Parliament that was created in the wake of the Libor- fixing scandal.

“The U.K. and America are world leaders in financial services,” Chairman Andrew Tyrie of the ruling Conservative Party said in an e-mailed statement in London today. “Public trust in banks plummeted as a result of the banking crisis in both these countries. Between us, we must lead the way in restoring that trust.”

Volcker, chairman of the White House’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board until last year, has advocated tighter rules for banks’ capital, leverage and liquidity as part of a regulatory overhaul in response to the financial crisis. He is the architect of the “Volcker Rule,” which aims to prevent banks that have federally insured deposits from trading for their own account.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gonzalo Vina in London at gvina@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net