the financial regulation confidence game August 6, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedFrom the UK Treasury’s consultation document on financial regulation:
Prudential and conduct of business regulation require different approaches and cultures, and combining them in the same organisation is difficult. As a result of the combined remit of the FSA, participants in financial services and markets, particularly ordinary consumers of retail products, did not always get the degree of regulatory focus or the protection they may have expected or required.
The Government will therefore create a dedicated consumer protection and markets authority (CPMA) with a primary statutory responsibility to promote confidence in financial services and markets. This objective will have two important components. First, the protection of consumers through a strong consumer division within the CPMA. And second, through promoting confidence in the integrity and efficiency of the UK’s financial markets.
Whether or not the FSA was paying insufficient attention to the interests of consumers is debateable – its TCF initiative took a broader approach to the protection of consumer interests than many regulators have. But this idea that promoting confidence in financial markets and protecting consumers are the same thing seems to me to be deeply problematic. And promoting market integrity and promoting confidence in the integrity of markets may be completely separate enterprises.
tough talk on financial regulation from hector sants June 24, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedAfter the announcement that the UK’s financial regulatory system is to be reorganized (again), Hector Sants responded forcefully today:
We will not be deflected from delivering much needed policy reforms such as the Retail Distribution Review (RDR). Furthermore, firms should recognise that our intensive supervisory approach will continue into the new organisational framework.
… we are entering a period of substantial change in the European regulatory environment and it is vitally important that the UK fully engages with these changes. We must recognise that going forward, particularly in respect of supervision, the national entities will increasingly become an arm of European policy and thus, effective engagement with the European agencies is absolutely critical.
.. no doubt as we move out of this crisis there will be calls for regulators to revert to light touch regulation, and senior management will be less willing to listen to a regulator who could be seen to be ‘second guessing’ management. When this happens it is vitally important that regulators stand their ground and continue to be proactive, but this will require that they are supported by government and society as a whole.
odd lobbying effort… May 5, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedHow can a state be “genetically anti-business”?
“vandal” bankers April 13, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedThere’s a European day of action on April 24.
group of experts in banking issues April 6, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedThe call for expression of interest (original closing date Feb. 28, 2010) doesn’t seem to have been too successful. Today there’s an addendum to the web page:
With reference to the call for expression of interest to participate in the Group of Experts in Banking Issues (GEBI), the Commission would like to clarify that although in principle, no reimbursement is guaranteed, the Commission may decide on the merit of reimbursing travel and subsistence expenses for certain members.
the uk government’s reaction to the robin hood proposal March 21, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedA coalition of charities has launched a campaign calling for a tax on global financial transactions, the so-called Robin Hood tax. This has led to a number of enquiries from members of the public for information on a transactions tax and the Government’s policy on the issue.
At the heart of the charities’ campaign is the belief that banks – who have benefited from significant public support in recent years – should make a fair contribution to society. This is a belief that is shared by the Government.
The Prime Minister raised the issue at the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers in St Andrews in November. He called for a better economic and social contract to reflect the global responsibilities of financial institutions to society.
The G20 nations have asked the International Monetary Fund to explore these issues further. They are looking at a range of options including contingent capital, systemic levies and transactions taxes. The IMF will deliver an interim report to G20 Finance Ministers at their next meeting in April, with a final report due in June.
The UK will continue to work for a global agreement to see banks contribute their fair share to society. Any work to raise awareness of this issue is to be welcomed.
very complicated…. February 10, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedgroup of experts in banking issues February 2, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedThe EU Commission is looking for candidates for this new group (which, according to the mandate, is meant to ensure direct communication between the banking industry, consumers and the European Commission). Here are the criteria:
proven knowledge, competence and experience, including at European or international level, in the field of banking regulation.. commitment to European issues and the internal market in financial services, ability to talk to relevant industry and public entities, willingness to commit time, neutrality and fair judgement.. interest in formulating policies in banking regulation to respond to the challenges created by the financial crisis .. good knowledge of written and spoken English
Neutrality, within the constraints of a commitment to “European issues”, whatever they are.
action on bank bonuses January 20, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedJohn Harris has a better way of showing disapproval of the fact that UK taxpayers are subsidising bank bonuses than Billy Bragg (at least his solution is legal):
If you have money in a bank whose pay structures strike you as iniquitous, put it somewhere else. As an RBS customer about to jump ship, my own choice is the Co-operative Bank, freshly merged with the Britannia Building Society. Their executives are hardly paupers … but their pay policy falls short of arrogant insanity – and as proof of their bona fides as both progressives and prudent operators, they make a lot of their ethical investment policy and proud avoidance of the financial instruments that got most other banks into such a mess.
passing the buck (while keeping tight hold of the bucks) January 13, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , comments closedReading reports of today’s hearings at the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission I am a bit perplexed by the suggestions that part of the problem was that regulators failed to keep up with new sophisticated financial products. This from members of an industry that dedicated enormous effort and money over many years to promoting the idea that governmental regulation shouldn’t interfere too much with market activity, and in particular that it should not stifle useful innovation. And, moreover, that it should be the market which would determine whether innovations were useful or not, rather than regulators. Now, it is pretty inevitable that businesses will put effort into lobbying (I started today looking at a fascinating study of how the tobacco industry worked to influence the incorporation of mandatory impact assessment (of a type that would weight economic interests heavily) into EU policy-making) but there’s something rather dishonest for people who have successfully lobbied for limited regulation to then turn round and blame everyone else for not regulating them enough.