Re Appointment Of Mervyn King As Governor Of The Bank Of England
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Author : Leo F. Goodstadt Publisher : Hong Kong University Press Page : 219 pages File Size : 42,5 Mb Release : 2011-04-01 Category : Business & Economics ISBN : 9789888083251
The 2007-2009 global financial crisis was predictable and avoidable, but American and British regulators chose not to intervene. They failed to implement their own policies because of an Anglo-American "regulatory culture" of non-intervention that dominated financial regulation worldwide. Hong Kong--the international financial center of an increasingly prosperous China--defied world opinion and made stability its priority. This policy ensured Hong Kong's robust performance during the last 15 years, and it made possible Hong Kong's impressive contributions to financing China's economic take-off and to the modernization of its financial institutions.Reluctant Regulatorsis a scathing indictment of regulatory inertia in the West. It provides original insights into the causes of financial crises and pays special attention to China's attempts at reform and Hong Kong's place in China's financial modernization. Leo F. Goodstadtwas chief policy adviser to the Hong Kong Government as head of its Central Policy Unit (1989-1997) and has had an extensive consultancy practice in Asian banking. He has written widely on the global financial crisis and on China's economic development.
Select Committees and Public Appointments by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Liaison Committee Pdf
Select Committees have undertaken pre-appointment hearings since 2007. These have a fourfold purpose: Scrutiny of the quality of ministerial decision making; Providing public reassurance that those appointed to key public offices are selected on merit; Enhancing the appointee's legitimacy in undertaking their function; Providing public evidence of the candidate's independence of mind. A report by the Liaison Committee a year ago (HC 1230, session 2010-12, ISBN 9780215561244) reviewed the process and, drawing on research by the UCL Constitution Unit and the Institute for Government, made several recommendations to strengthen the accountability of ministerial appointments. The Government has rejected this proposed approach, stating only that it "has considered [it]... with interest.." It also fails to take up the Committee's recommendation that political appointments such as the UK's EU Commissioner, or Ambassadors or High Commissioners appointed from outside the career diplomatic service should be subject to pre appointment scrutiny. The June 2012 Cabinet Office guidance has been issued without any further reference to the committee and its recommendations, and the Committee's own draft guidance is more or less ignored.
Banking Reform by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee Pdf
This report follows on from the Committee's report on the crisis at Northern Rock (5th report, HC 56-I, ISBN 9780215038388) and the lessons to be learned by the Treasury, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England (the Tripartite authorities). It examines legislative and practical changes that are needed. The overall case for legislative action in the field of banking regulation is compelling but the Government's preparations for new legislation may not be in place by late February 2009. The Committee recommends that the legislation provides: greater clarity about the nature and objective of "heightened supervision"; an explicit statutory power for the Bank of England to recommend to the FSA that a firm be made subject to the new Special Resolution Regime; a clear institutional separation between the executive functions of the Bank and the non-executive role of the Court of the Bank of England. Practical measures should include: the strengthening FSA's capacity to regulate; the Tripartite authorities must develop a communications strategy to secure public and market confidence in their new powers; and depositor protection arrangements must be developed which will function smoothly and effectively in the event of a bank failure. The Committee makes recommendations on "heightened supervision" and the Special Resolution Regime, identifies priorities for reform of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to protect depositors, and sets out proposals for strengthening the Bank of England. The new Tripartite Standing Committee must assume a central and continuing role in the financial stability work of the authorities at all time.
Banking Crisis by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee Pdf
This report examines remuneration in the City of London, as well as the nexus of private actors, including non-executive directors, institutional shareholders, auditors and credit rating agencies, who failed to act as a check on, and balance to, senior managers and the executive boards of banks. The report concludes that the banking crisis has exposed serious flaws and shortcomings in remuneration practices in the banking sector and, in particular, within investment banking. The Committee is concerned that the FSA's Turner Review downplays the role that remuneration played in causing the banking crisis and questions whether the regulator is attaching sufficient priority to tackling the issue. The Committee notes the culture in the City of London, which encouraged excessive risk taking. Lord Myners' assertion that his precept to the RBS Board - that there should be no reward for failure - did not represent an adequate oversight of the remuneration of outgoing senior bank staff, and the report casts doubt on the Treasury's decision to rely on the then RBS Board to handle negotiations with these staff without direct Treasury involvement. The financial crisis has exposed serious flaws and shortcomings in the system of non-executive oversight of bank executives. Three problems are noted: the lack of time many non-executives commit to their role, with many combining a senior full-time position with multiple non-executive directorships; in many instances a lack of expertise; and a lack of diversity. The failure of institutional investors effectively to scrutinise and monitor the decision of boards and executive management in the banking sector may reflect the low priority some institutional investors have accorded to governance issues; in some cases, they may have even encouraged the risk-taking that proved the downfall of some banks.
Too important to fail - too important to ignore by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee Pdf
The Treasury Committee considers the issue of the existence of a type of financial firm, or firms which are "too important to fail" - so integral to the financial system that it was necessary for governments to bail them out during the banking crisis. The report concludes that the actions governments had to take to ensure financial stability have resulted in a market which operates on the assumption that systemically important firms will be rescued if necessary, and radical reform is needed. The report looks at the range of reforms currently under consideration, and assesses them against the objectives of an orderly banking system; protecting the consumer, protecting the taxpayer, setting an appropriate cost of doing business and providing lending to the economy. It emphasises that successful reform would transfer risk away from Government and back into the banking sector. The report is doubtful about how far evolutionary reform can make sufficient changes. The government has ruled out structural reforms such as narrow banking, unlike the USA, and the report calls for the debate on banking reform to remain as wide as possible. The United Kingdom can only benefit from constructive international agreement, but that prevarication on international agreement must not be used as an excuse to delay, or, at worst, prevent reform. As Britain has a very large banking system relative to GDP compared to other countries, its reform is anyway in the UK's own self-interest, even if it is not coordinated with reforms in other countries.
Women in the City by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee Pdf
The Treasury Committee report, 'Women in the City' was prompted by its work in the banking crisis, which shone a spotlight on the need for reform to increase financial stability, including improving corporate governance within financial institutions. Part of the debate on how to improve corporate governance was around boosting diversity and challenge in the City. Witnesses to the Committee even suggested that greater female representation at senior levels would have made the banking crisis less likely. The report says the lack of diversity on the boards of many, if not most, of our major financial institutions, may have heightened the problems of 'group-think' and made effective challenge and scrutiny of executive decisions less effective. A sector which is failing to properly utilise the talents of over half the population clearly has substantial room for improvement and this entails looking more widely at the industry structure, to ensure that able women who wish to progress are not held back. The report also examines matters such as the long hours culture, the working environment and access to flexible working and family-friendly practices. The report notes that the challenge is not so much to change the legal framework, but to change practice and, where necessary, culture. The onus is on the City to demonstrate that it is committed to improving the representation of women at senior levels within the industry. Whilst the Committee does not believe this should be achieved through the introduction of a quota system, it is clear that such pressure will intensify should the industry fail to act.
Budget 2009 by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee Pdf
This report examines the forecasts and measures contained in the 2009 Budget (HC 107, session 2008-09, ISBN 9780102959161). The Committee noted that there is considerable uncertainty around the Government's GDP growth forecasts for 2009-2011, reflecting the fact that the UK economy is in uncharted territory. Whilst it is possible that the Government will meet its growth forecasts on the available evidence the Committee considers this an optimistic assumption. They question the decision to assume that the economy will begin registering positive growth as early as the fourth quarter of 2009 and that the economy will register such strong growth in 2011. The Committee's concern is in that the sharp recovery in consumption forecast for 2011 might be too optimistic given that the UK economy will only just have emerged from a sharp downturn. The strong rebound forecast in consumption growth from 2011 onwards has important implications for whether the rebalancing of the UK economy with a shift away from consumption and a rise in the savings ratio, is merely a short-term phenomenon. The Committee notes it is too early to judge whether the November 2008 fiscal stimulus has been successful.The Committee looked at unemployment and considers it too early to judge whether the Government's proposed guarantee of a job, work placement or training scheme for all young people who have been on Jobseekers Allowance for 12 months together with the monetary and fiscal stimuli will be sufficiently timely and substantial response to the unemployment challenge.For public finances the Committee recommends that future budgets and pre-budget reports provide a sectoral analysis of tax revenues so that as the UK economy becomes less dependent on financial services and other sectors become more prominent, the basis of the Treasury's revenue forecasts can be scrutinised. The Committee was concerned over the lack of any substantial measures to combat child poverty. For the housing market the Committee calls for a more stable framework for the payment of Local Housing Allowance and welcome the help announced for homeowners but regret the delays in implementation and lack of clarity in respect of some of the schemes, recommending that clear information is provided. The vehicle scrappage is noted to be of importance to the car industry and that it has been welcomed in some quarters and await the pre-budget 2009 report to assess how effective the scheme has been. The Committee believes there are uncertainties over the yield to be raised by the 50 percent top rate of income tax and recommend that the Treasury should report in the 2011 PBR on the revenue raised both nominally and as a percentage of the theoretical maximum revenue by this new top rate.Regarding tax relief on pensions the Committee notes the departure from the long standing principle that tax relief for pension contributions should be given at an individuals marginal rate tax and urges the Treasury to monitor the effect of this change, keeping under review the possibility that a cap on annual contributions might be a more equitable way of reducing the percentage of tax relief that benefits the highest earners.
Administration and Expenditure of the Chancellor's Departments, 2007-08 by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee Pdf
The Treasury Sub-Committee calls for much greater transparency from the Treasury in accounting for the liabilities taken on by the nationalisation and part-nationalisation of financial institutions. The report recommends that these disclosures appear in the annual Treasury resource accounts. Furthermore they should be at least as comprehensive as those made by major corporations and go further than meeting the minimum acceptable accounting standards. In particular, the Report notes that the Treasury's 2007-08 Annual Report and Accounts cover the Government's financial relationship with Northern Rock but do not comment on its performance under temporary public ownership. Given the level of interest in the fully nationalised institutions of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, and the Treasury's role in their governance, the report recommends that key performance information for these institutions be published in the resource accounts as well. The wholesale nationalisation of Northern Rock, and Bradford & Bingley has created governance responsibilities for the Treasury while these entities remain under public ownership. The Government's announcements of October 2008 created further responsibilities regarding the oversight of part-nationalised banks, and created a new body, UK Financial Investments (UKFI). The report calls for UKFI to report annually to Parliament and to be accountable to the Treasury Committee. The Committee wants the Government to identify and publish performance indicators for UKFI, and to report against these measures on a six-monthly basis. All these developments are additional challenges for the Treasury and require it to act in areas its current staff base may not be fully equipped for or familiar with. The Government must ensure the Treasury is sufficiently resourced to manage the extended responsibilities arising from the economic downturn, especially those regarding financial stability.
Mortgage arrears and access to mortgage finance by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee Pdf
This report focuses on households affected by the recession, struggling with mortgage arrears or at risk of repossession. The role of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is also scrutinised. The report notes that both mortgage arrears and repossession levels are on an upward trend and that both are expected to continue rising over the next few years as a result of the recession. The Committee acknowledges that many mainstream lenders are taking pro-active steps to support consumers in mortgage difficulties, but expresses concern at the lack of flexibility and forbearance shown by some lenders in the sub-prime, specialist and second charge sectors towards homeowners in arrears, and the fact that some lenders are charging high and excessive mortgage arrears fees to customers who fall into mortgage difficulties. The FSA should take a much more robust stance towards tackling and eliminating unfair arrears charges. The report criticises the seemingly leisurely approach of the FSA in terms of completing its mortgage arrears review and enforcing possible breaches in the mortgage arrears rules. It calls upon the FSA to spell out clearly in its forthcoming review how it will improve its performance in terms of bringing miscreant firms to book. The report recommends that the Government re-examine its longer-term strategy towards supporting homeowners in mortgage difficulties to ensure that adequate mechanisms to support homeowners are in place even once the current downturn has ended.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee Pdf
This report continues the practice of holding hearings with persons appointed to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. The Committee feels that such hearings provide a transparency of the appointment process and increases the level of information available to the public and to Parliament about the functioning of the MPC itself.
Credit Searches by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee Pdf
The report by the Treasury Committee calls on the Office of Fair Trading and the Information Commissioner's Office to investigate the fairness of a part of the credit market. The Report follows an inquiry sparked by concerns that in shopping around for credit, especially for unsecured credit such as personal loans and credit cards, consumers were building up a record of credit application searches on their credit reference files and that high numbers of recorded applications in fact made it harder for them to obtain credit, or affected the rates charged. The Committee's inquiry considered a range of evidence, including from members of the public who responded to a call put through web site moneysavingexpert.com to provide examples of their experiences and difficulties obtaining credit, credit search companies themselves, the OFT, ICO and others. The Report concludes that there is a fine balance of public interest between ensuring that fraud is prevented and consumers are protected from reckless lending, and ensuring that the market is subject to the disciplines of informed consumer choice. Loan providers have over 400 indicators that they may use to assess suitability; the Committee did not get compelling evidence that application search data is essential. Nor was it presented with overwhelming evidence that making multiple application searches is a major source of direct consumer detriment, although the number of consumers doing this seems likely to rise. However, the Committee was extremely concerned about the effect of the use of credit searches on market mechanisms, since, in principle, the ability to shop around is not only an important means for consumers to assess the market, but also provides a key discipline on providers. During the course of the inquiry the Committee heard about some solutions which could reduce the adverse effects of the use of credit application search data in credit reference files; it considers that any acceptable solution must strike an appropriate balance between minimising fraud and over-borrowing and ensuring the market is subject to normal market disciplines. It recommends that the OFT look at this.
Pre-budget Report 2009 by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee Pdf
This report acknowledges that deciding the right time for fiscal consolidation requires making a fine judgement about the resilience of the recovery. It emphasises that a plan to restore the health of the public finances must deal with the structural deficit. While the Treasury aims to cut the deficit from 9% of GDP to 3.6% of GDP in four years, the expert witnesses who examined it all criticised the document for not providing enough information about how this will be achieved. Future Budgets and PBRs should attempt to quantify the downside risks around the structural deficit forecast. There will be uncertainty in these figures, but they are produced as part of the Spending Review process so there appears to be no argument against their publication. Similarly the Bank of England publishes forecasts showing the possible range of inflation rates and publishing information about debt interest on a similar basis would be useful. The recession appears to have had substantially less impact on the labour market than might have been feared, though concern remains about the level of youth unemployment. Repossessions have been far lower than expected however it is recommended that the Treasury proceeds cautiously over the timing of removal of Government support in this area. We do not want to see a return to the times of easy credit, but the Government needs to remain aware of the risk that lending will not support renewed private sector growth as the public sector retrenches. The purpose of the tax on bank bonuses is to change behaviour so that banks increase their capital, rather than providing large discretionary payments to employees. The next Parliament needs to examine the effectiveness of any regime introduced by the Financial Services Bill, in terms both of its success in altering bank behaviour, and of its effect on the competitiveness of the UK financial sector
Counting the Population by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee Pdf
This report (HCP 183-1, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215520593), from the Treasury Committee, examines the process of counting the population and the problems faced by local authorities in estimating what is a highly mobile population in their areas. A number of these problems became visible during the 2001 Census. The Committee states that the methodology for estimating local populations between each census is not fit for purpose because the statistics fail to take proper account of internal migration. A consequence of this is that local authority funding is based on inadequate information. The Committee recommends that the newly established Statistics Authority should devise a more accurate method to reflect the local population and the effects of internal migration. Further, the Committee raises concerns about the use of the International Passenger Survey in estimating international migration and that a new survey is required to provide a more accurate measurement of international movements. The Committee also states that the development of computerised adminitrative records in the UK requires the Government to put in place strong ethical safeguards to protect personal information. Also the Government and the Statistics Authority need to push ahead with the production of the national address register to underpin the accuracy of the 2011 Census. Finally the Committee believes the traditional census has had its day and the Statistics Authority needs to set out a strategic objective to ensure that the data gathered throughout the UK can be used to produce annual population statistics that are of a quality to enable the 2011 Census to be the last census in the UK where the population is counted through census forms. For the Written evidence to this Volume, see (HCP 183-II, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215038036).