Occupy Movement Was Right - Top Banker

A Bank of England official has said the Occupy movement played a key role in financial reformation.



Andrew Haldane is executive director of financial stability at the central bank.



He said Occupy's voice had been "loud and persuasive".



Mr Haldane said the protesters had touched a "moral nerve" and that policymakers were taking the group’s arguments on board.



The Occupy movement was a peaceful protest which first targeted the London Stock Exchange on 15 October 2011.



It was an anti-capitalist movement which spread around the major cities of the world in protest at what it saw as inequalities in the distribution of wealth and a banking-bonus culture.



The group eventually camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London until February, when they were evicted by the City of London Corporation.



Mr Haldane gave his surprise reaction to a meeting organised by the movement in London.



"Occupy has been successful in its efforts to popularise the problems of the global financial system for one very simple reason: they are right," he said in his speech.



He said Barclays and Lloyds were seeking to change their "sales-oriented culture" and return to their Quaker roots.



"There is the quiet, but unmistakable, sound of a leaf being turned," he said.



"If I am right and a new leaf is being turned, then Occupy will have played a key role in this fledgling financial reformation.



"You have put the arguments. You have helped win the debate. And policymakers, like me, will need your continuing support in delivering that radical change."



(IT)