…But City Lord Mayor warns, crisis is coming

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Save & Share Article

What’s this?

Digg	My Yahoo	Fark
del.icio.us	Newsvine	Reddit

Rate This Article

Mumbai, Apr 16 India was not immune to the crisis in the global credit market, and problems originating from the subprime credit crisis in the US were heading eastward, said David Lewis, Lord Mayor of the City of London, on Wednesday.

In an exclusive interview with FE, Lewis said, “It would be a mistake if the Indian government assumed that they were somehow immune from global influences, because although the subprime problems in the west have not affected India materially yet, they are heading in this direction. They are heading in the eastward direction and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop them coming in this direction.”

The Lord Mayor, who represents the financial community in London’s Square Mile, said a year ago, the world Economy was different; everyone was optimistic. That optimism turned out to be “slightly misplaced, globally”.

Lewis, however, put up a strong defence of the UK’s regulatory system, saying it was transparent and the best in the world, despite the failure of Northern Rock, which he said was not a systemic problem.

“The subprime problem started in America. The American Economy is not properly regulated. That is not a London problem. There is no subprime problem in London. It hit American headquartered banks very hard. Thank goodness for the sovereign wealth funds of the Middle East and the Far East. Where would (American banks) be without them?” Lewis asked.