Councils examine national bank plan

Councils in England and Wales are drawing up plans for a national bank to pool billions of pounds of cash they hold on deposit and invest it in stalled infrastructure projects. The fund would pool up to £20 billion belonging to the 420 local authorities in England and Wales, and at its simplest level LAs could use the bank to offset their savings against borrowings. Councils lost millions of pounds in deposits held with the recently collapsed Icelandic banks.