Lord McColl of Dulwich has had enough. In light of a slew of bank-related controversies, recently climaxing with Barclays' $450 million settlement over market manipulation, McColl told the House of Lords that it's time to strip banks of their holiday, BBC News reports.
"In view of the poor behavior of the banks, could we consider changing the name bank holiday back to its original name -- Lubbock days?" Lord McColl asked. According to the BBC report, Bank Holidays were once named after the man who introduced the idea in 1871, Sir John Lubbock.
In the United Kingdom, Bank Holidays are annual official days off for all workers, not just employees in the banking sector. Employers need not necessarily provide paid leave on those holidays though, according to the British government. That's a different meaning from in the United States, where FDR declared a bank holiday in 1933, in which the banks were closed in order to stop nation-wide run on them.
The British aren't afraid to make big name changes, and there's certainly been enough controversy surrounding British banks in recent weeks to consider McColl's ask. The CEO, COO and Chairman of Barclays have all resigned after the UK-based bank was collectively fined nearly half a billion dollars by the U.S. and British governments on charges of widespread market manipulation. The Royal Bank of Scotland also fired four traders involved in similar interest rate manipulation, according to a separate BBC report.
The British Parliament will vote on establishing an inquiry into Barclays' Libor-rigging practices this week, Bloomberg reports. It was not reported whether Lord McColl's suggestion was included in any of the considered bills.