Bifu plea to Major

BIFU, the banking union, yesterday urged John Major to call a summit meeting of top bankers and others to tackle the crisis in the finance industry. The call follows the announcement of 8,000 job losses in the industry last week with plans to close several hundred bank branches. In the last four years, the finance industry has shed about 100,000 jobs.

Leif Mills, general secretary of Bifu, said: 'The British banking sector used to be the envy of the world. It is our aim to ensure that it is so again.'