20 FEBRUARY 1971, Page 27

Foolhardy investment

Sir Kenneth Keith has firmly asserted, in the SPECTATOR and elsewhere, that the Stock Exchange should not be subject to public regulation. He has seen that the agreeable incentives of looking after discretionary funds which add up to merchant banking may be wiped out by the possibility of foolhardy investment of shareholders' funds with promoters such as those in Australia. Perhaps he will now be ready to follow the lead of Mr David. Montagu and Skinflint in allowing that there may be a case for setting up a regulatory body with rules backed by law, forbidding the mixing o; investment banking and company promotion with the control of fiduciary funds.