Another banking crisis is just around the corner unless the Government cracks down on the ‘get rich quick’ City bonus culture, a think thank has warned.

Excessive risky trading in pursuit of bonuses was blamed for banking crisis

Speaking a year on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said “real reform” had been “very limited”.

The group said the City was still obsessed with quick kills and quick bucks.

Its report, called Tomorrow’s Capitalism, said: “The current crisis was brought on, in large part, by the ‘get rich quick’ mentality of the City, which put short-term profitability and personal gain ahead of all other considerations.

“Unless policymakers take action to create the blueprint for a more stable and sustainable model of capitalism, and one that delivers better outcomes for all not just a small elite, there is a real danger of another economic crisis in the future.”

The think tank called for a “change in the culture of business” and said the Government should place new restraints on City excesses.

It also said the UK’s “love affair with consumerism” needed to be tackled with tougher restrictions on mortgage lending to prevent a repeat of house price booms, calling for mandatory lending rules, including limits on loan to value ratios, and restrictions on buy-to-let mortgages “to minimise the risk of history repeating itself”.

The IPPR wants UK economic growth to be based more on exports rather than debt-fuelled consumerism, as well as a shift towards a ‘Scandinavian’ model where high taxes are levied for better-quality public services.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Alistair Darling plans to force the country’s banks to draw up ‘living wills’ that would allow them to be dismantled more easily in the event of another financial crisis.

The proposal will be part of the new financial services Bill, which will be announced in the Queen’s speech in November, Mr Darling told the Financial Times.