Learning from history
The reconstruction of banks was hugely important in Germany’s post-war economic recovery.
My late father, then a serving RAF officer in Germany after the war in both Cologne and Berlin, told me despite the destruction of life and homes, top priority (sometimes even before providing housing) was given to rebuilding the banks and the economy. This led to an almost miraculous German post-war boom.
Today, could the disappearance of banks spell the UK’s economic doom?
Cash plays a key role in society, both as a medium of exchange to connect buyers and sellers, and as a store of value. Do we want to kill off a proven tool of commerce?
Without banks on the high street, cash will become a historical relic. Worse still, the high street, mainstay of civilisation for a millennium or more, will be no more.
Keep physical money, with its concomitant ecosystems of brick and mortar banks. Banks and cash must remain for now the twin pillars of a thriving high street.
Stephanie Hawthorne is a freelance journalist and former editor of Pensions World (1989 to 2017)
