The UK's leading banking association ended 2009 with a bang on Wednesday, accusing authorities of impulsive reforms that could undermine the UK as a top financial centre and crimp future economic growth.

In an outspoken end-of-year statement on Wednesday, Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers' Association, lashed out at the sector's critics, saying UK banks were being unfairly blamed for causing most of the country's economic woes.