3 ms·
UK banks are pretty heavily regulated. For example, the overdraft fee spiral has been banned and in many cases banks were required to pay compensation. Yet we
by cameronh90 5y ago
UK banks are pretty heavily regulated. For example, the overdraft fee spiral has been banned and in many cases banks were required to pay compensation.
Yet we have quite a lot of banks to pick from - around 60 if you include building societies (more if you include private, niche and specialist banks). We also have a fair few new and digital challenger banks like Monzo, Starling, Atom, Revolut and arguably Metro Bank. If anything our banking system seems far more innovative than the US system.
I don't know about Canada, but clearly regulations don't mean that you can't have competition and innovation.
- JoBrad 5y agoI could be mistaken about this, but I thought it had something to do with the UK’s relationship with the EU (and perhaps the US, as well?) that made the UK particularly attractive to financial industry.
- philjohn 5y agoThere are a lot of things that are just plain better in the UK compared to the US. Out of network ATM fees being a big one. See also regulation about what the incumbent last-mile network provider (Openreach) can charge ISP's to provide services on their lines which has led to a larger number of ISP's available in any one place (unless you're in Hull, because of historical reasons).
- leetcrew 5y agoif ATM fees are important to you, you could always consider opening an account with schwab. they reimburse 100% of ATM fees. as for ISPs, it's hard to do worse than comcast, but at least they don't block a wide range of content by default. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_blocking_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_blocking_in_the_United_Kin...
- philjohn 5y agoIt was either "voluntarily block, or we'll force you to". And the piracy site blocks are due to high court orders - not a lot an ISP can do in those cases.