It has been said that those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Anyone with a knowledge of the history of financial services regulation in the UK must be listening with despair to Government statements of more regulatory powers and Conservative proposals, if they win the next general election, to move supervision of the banking sector back the Bank of England. Both the Government and Opposition continue to fail to address fundamental internal flaws in the system which have been caused, at least in part, by regulatory failures by the Government, Her Majesty’s Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England. The Government however, perhaps understandably, prefers to look outward blaming the system, inadequate powers and, on this occasion of failure, bankers and the banking industry as a whole.

more >>