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Very weak. Briefly touched on something of substance here: > Financial regulation in New York was far stricter than in London, where the relatively light-touch
by branchless 11y ago
Very weak. Briefly touched on something of substance here:
> Financial regulation in New York was far stricter than in London, where the relatively light-touch oversight regime proved attractive to investors.
The UK is playing regulatory arbitrage. They let banks come and do whatever they want because the UK is going down and they are desperate (and corrupt).
London is controlling the rest of the UK because the banks are there and it is the banks, not our government, who decide how much money is issued. They are drug pushers and The City is a cancer.
- ig1 11y agoI don't think you understand how finance work, the UK has one of the best financial regulatory regimes in the world, market participants want to be in London not because it's unregulated but because it's well regulated. If you have too much regulation you stiffle innovation and development, but too little means that investors don't trust institutions with their money. So it's a trade-off between the two factors.
- ZenoArrow 11y ago> "I don't think you understand how finance work, the UK has one of the best financial regulatory regimes in the world" If it's that well regulated, why did the subprime mortgage crisis hit us so hard (compared to the countries that escaped relatively unscathed)?
- dagw 11y agoThe regulation was optimized for making the normal case as efficient as possible, not for mitigating the worst case.
- ZenoArrow 11y agoYet other countries avoided the bad deals, how did they manage to do that? There are a number of countries that experienced no recession after the subprime crisis... Australia, Brazil, China, India, Poland, etc... If the UK's financial markets were well run, why did they suffer?
- branchless 11y agoThe UK media sang as one "global financial crisis" in the wake of 2008 and I'm afraid that some people simply cannot think for themselves. My favourite Bush Jr quote: > "You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on."
- dagw 11y agoThey where well run from the point of view that they made finance fast, simple and safe for a regulatory stand point for the companies involved. This has nothing to to do with insulating the wider economy from the folly of those financial institutions.
- ZenoArrow 11y ago"This has nothing to to do with insulating the wider economy from the folly of those financial institutions." In that case that's where we differ, because that's certainly what I'd expect a country to be guarding against to earn the 'well run' status.
- debacle 11y agoLikely because it is far more desirable to have an investment property in London than any other city in Europe.
- branchless 11y agoIt is more desirable because the UK is having a big fire sale to try and stay afloat. Got your money running drugs? From a corrupt regime? No problem - the UK won't check. Plus all the UK population are busy working hard paying taxes to pay the police to protect your property.
- AnimalMuppet 11y ago"Fire sale" and "property prices are insanely high" seem like disjoint concepts to me...
- branchless 11y agoGuess you don't understand that the UK is selling a lot of land overseas then.
- AnimalMuppet 11y agoI actually do understand that. That doesn't make it a fire sale, though. In particular, a fire sale doesn't just mean "selling at a fast pace". It means selling at a fast pace due to a discounted price. That's where the term fails to match land sales in the UK.
- branchless 11y agoI've worked in it for a long time and read many books plus lived in London for 12 years. The UK was known to be "light touch" that's why all the banks locate there. No criminal prosecutions were brought from 2008. Lots of US banks put their bad deals through London. You have no clue what you are talking about.
- jamespo 11y agoWhat financial centres have brought prosecutions from 2008?
- branchless 11y agoThe main two by far are the US and the UK. The US didn't bring much but it has pursued banks more when it comes to fining them (I'd agree it's a poor second but better than the UK). The US also let Lehman go under and let their housing market crash. The UK has done all it possibly can to wind the clock back to 2007 so they can set The City running again like it never happened. The UK FSA has come up with nothing and since the crash we've had more state guarantees for the banks than before.
- SixSigma 11y agoI think it could be your knowledge that falls short. The City of London is not governed by Westminster. See http://treasureislands.org/ http://treasureislands.org/
- venomsnake 11y agoLIBOR rigging was regulation at its prime.
- branchless 11y agoWhich the BoE was implicated in but then it's all ok as another part of the UK establishment cleared them. Phew!
- icebraining 11y agoFor an entertaining view of the issue, there's Yes, Prime Minister - A Conflict of Interests. An excerpt: - Yes, well, they lent a bit of money to the wrong chaps. Could happen to anyone. - You haven't heard rumours? - There are always rumours. - Of bribery? Embezzlement? Misappropriation? Insider dealing? - Dear lady, those are strong words. - So they're not true? - Well, er, there are different... er... different ways of looking at things. - What's a different way of looking at embezzlement? - If a chap embezzles, you have to do something. - Have a serious word with him? - Absolutely. Usually it's just a chap who's advanced himself a short-term, unauthorised, unsecured temporary loan from the company's account and invested it unluckily.
- branchless 11y agoSadly that's the UK in a nut-shell. Finance crime is just "bad luck" down the Mayfair clubs.