June 11, 2012 - Britain's banking industry must begin embracing risk once again if it is to recover fully in the aftermath of the global economic downturn. That is the opinion of Andy Haldane, a policymaker at the Bank of England (BoE), who has told the Scotsman that this is essential in order to kickstart the country's economic revival.

Last month, it emerged that the UK's gross domestic product shrank by 0.3 per cent during the opening quarter of the year. Following on from the 0.3 per cent contraction recorded during the final three-month period of 2011, this means the nation is now officially back in a period of recession.

However, Mr Haldane believes banks can play a major role in stimulating the economy as they can take full advantage of their relative strength in comparison to their continental counterparts."In Europe there wasn't the same loss recognition and building of buffers that UK banks have done," he noted.