Should markets dictate financial regulations?
As the UK government looks to introduce, via the FSA, a limit on the loan to income ratio with regards to mortgages, there are concerns that overregulation will impact upon the ability of the UK financial markets to "move with the times". As we covered in one of the earlier post, there is a need to increase the regulatory framework and strengthen the regime in the UK but is it sensible to take away the ability of financial markets to dictate financial regulation?
Slowly but surely we have seen the UK government and the regulators take a tighter and tighter grasp of the UK financial market despite the fact that it is one of the leading markets in the world. We have already seen well-known financial institutions decide to move their headquarters overseas because of the tax regime and many believe that an over onerous regulatory regime could also see many other companies redirect their investment and their resources elsewhere.
The UK banking industry has become one of the strongest in the world with exposure to each and every major economy round the globe. While this has backfired to some extent during the worldwide slowdown it has allowed companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays and others to substantially increase their capital base and their customer base. Is it sensible to reduce the ability of UK banks and financial institutions to decide their own policies in the medium to longer term?
Share this..
Related stories
Npower sells 770,000 customer supply accounts
20/11/2013 Npower has sold 770,000 of its gas and electricity customer accounts to Telecom Plus to help turn the ‘big six’ into the ‘big seven’, in a move that could increase competition in the energy market. The deal which will cost Telecom Plus around £218 million will see its number of customers more than double to 1.2 million when the sale is completed in January 2014. However,...
Read MoreIs $180 billion enough to bail out the money markets?
News of a joint effort between the Bank of England, the ECB and the Fed saw $180 billion pumped into the worldwide money markets in an attempt to keep the wheels of commerce turning, but is it enough? Can $180 billion really end the problems of recent times?
While the figures being mentioned today are literally out of this world to the person on the street, in terms of the money mar...
EasyJet pulls back on growth numbers
Budget airline EasyJet has today announced a halving of its forecast growth rate from 15% to 7.5% with founder Sir Stelios Haji-loannou said to have been a prominent figure behind the scenes. It seems as though the founder, who still controls 38% of the airline shares, had become very concerned about over expansion in a recessionary period.
While there is no doubt that the original...
Unpaid overtime totals £27.4 billion in 2009
In a reflection of how difficult a year 2009 was for the UK economy, it has been revealed that a massive £27.4 billion was worked in unpaid overtime by UK employees. This equates to a record £5,400 per worker in the UK and is the largest figure since these records began. While many people would expect to "do a little extra" to secure their jobs in these difficult economic times the amount of wor...
Read MoreBarclays bank set to soften approach regarding pension scheme
The announcement, some weeks ago, that Barclays bank will be closing the company's final salary pension scheme caused anger amongst employees. Not only is the scheme closed to new members (as it has been since 1997) but existing members will be encouraged to transfer to a money purchase scheme with various incentives from the company. The idea is that the existing pension fund deficit will be cove...
Read More