Miton's Gray attacks banking regulation

Fund manager Martin Gray has attacked the failure of governments to adequately overhaul financial regulation.

Although central bank leaders raised capital reserve requirements for banks through Basel III, the manager of the Miton Strategic and Special Situations Portfolios believes political desire has not yet been met with enough action.

He says: "In the US, the banking industry has managed to successfully lobby the various self-interest congressional and federal committees to water down the original tough proposals.

"Basel III looks like it is going a similar way. The ‘brave new world' of high speed technology and complex derivative instruments requires consensus for a very different regulatory structure and supervision for the global financial industry of today - something we seem to be a long way away from at present."

His criticism of Basel III echoes the views Lord Turner, who, speaking at Mansion House last night, argued the 7% capital reserve requirement is still too low.

The FSA chairman also reinforced the opinion that a lack of regulatory oversight had significantly contributed to the economic crisis.

Turner said: "There were failures in risk management practices and systems which top management and boards should have put right, and which the FSA, as we have openly admitted, should more aggressively have challenged."

Meanwhile Gray has criticised bond guru Bill Gross, noting his predictions for the gilt market were wide of the mark.

"Despite Pimco's Bill Gross likening holding gilts to laying on a bed of nitro-glycerine earlier this year, the reality has been more of a bed of feathers as yields have tumbled, providing a substantial capital profit for those investors who ignored his advice.

"After such a strong run on the back of slower than anticipated growth and increased talk of double-dip recession, but only slowly falling inflation numbers, it may be time to pause for breath.

"However, with interest rates, growth rates and inflation likely to stay low for some time, it may only be a pause before gilt yields continue their contraction."