Question Author
When I used the word hived off I meant that Government divested themselves of the responsibility for this crucial part of a country's infrastructure. I have no problem with private banks per se, I just do not believe that they are the right people to manage retail banking for the nation. I am not an advocate for big government. I believe that this one of the major problems with most western countries, certainly most European ones. The national bank would be, to the maximum possible extent, independent. I suppose it would function like the old fashioned Building Societies, with current accounts, mortages, loans to business etc. etc. . This is not unlike the proposals we see for separating retail banking from casino type banking. There is no intrinsic reason why an independent, efficient, state run bank cannot outperform the lot we have at the moment.
Stewart