What are public interest directors doing if banks have free reign?

A public appetite for a warts-and-all banking inquiry is growing.

Recent decisions by bailed-out banks to hike mortgage interest rates, slap charges on deposit accounts, and an unwillingness to lend to businesses has sparked anger.

Some have pointed to our public interest directors on the bank boards — well-respected figures appointed by the State to serve the interests of the State — as a way of easing pressure on consumers.