Why has the EU Commission become so involved in UK banking sector?
After news that the EU Commission will be forcing Royal Bank of Scotland to downsize its operations, reduce its insurance division and treble its exposure to the asset protection scheme, many are now wondering why the EU commission is so heavily involved in the UK banking sector?
The problem is that the UK government, and all other EU members, effectively signed over control and regulatory power to the EU Commission some time ago. The EU Commission is now so powerful that it hey can actually overrule domestic governments and domestic regulators and is effectively the top tier of the European regulatory system. As a consequence, despite the fact that the UK government, and the UK regulators, gave the green light to significant state funding for Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds bank, Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock, the EU commission is now taking a different view on these transactions.
There is growing concern of a federal Europe emerging in the short to medium term which will effectively attempt to steal control and power from the City of London financial markets, which have been amongst the most popular and most powerful in the world for some time.
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