Ethical banking campaigners welcomed stronger regulation of the industry but demanded more than “hot air” yesterday after Bank of England governor Mark Carney came out against reckless bankers.

Move Your Money spokesman Joel Benjamin told the Star that the campaign agreed with Mr Carney’s criticisms but would like to see these followed up with resolute actions.

“Mark Carney has previously signalled an intent to extend Bank of England ‘lender of last resort’ facilities to money brokers and at the FT 125 event spoke of expanding the UK financial services sector to nine times the UK’s GDP,” said Mr Benjamin.

“Officials like Mark Carney continue to talk a big game regarding financial reforms, but when it comes to criminally prosecuting banks and jailing senior bankers, they are yet to get on the score sheet.”

Mr Carney told the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting that “one of the legacies of the crisis in the US and by and large in the UK was that the individuals who ran the institutions got away.”

His comments came shortly after HSBC executives reportedly threatened to resign over new British rules making senior employees accountable for the institution’s misconduct and failure.

The multinational banking corporation declared a black hole worth £70 billion back in January.

“If you’re chair of an audit committee, you have responsibility for the activities of an institution,” Mr Carney insisted.

“And if you don’t think you can discharge that responsibility, you shouldn’t be on that board.”

But the Bank of England governor’s former employer Goldman Sachs was equally knee-deep in scandal recently, a New York Federal Reserve employee showed she that had been sacked for investigating the corporation.