• Key issues: Financial regulation



    The UK government is set to announce its plans to reform the financial system to prevent future crises.
    New powers will be proposed to curb bank lending and prevent asset bubbles, such as the housing boom undermining the real economy.
    The aim, according to Chancellor Alistair Darling, is a "significant toughening up of the regulatory system" in order to "learn the lesson of what went wrong... and make sure we reduce those risks".
    But critics say many of the proposals are still too vague, and the plans lack teeth. The government says it will need to consult the City and international regulators before moving forward on some proposals - therefore delaying their implementation until after the next election.


    KEY PROPOSALS: WHO WILL BE REGULATED

    There will be broad power to regulate any financial institution that poses a "systemic" threat to the financial system.
    "If an activity looks like a bank and sounds like a bank, we regulate it like a bank," said Lord Turner, the head of the Financial Services Authority.
    So investment houses as well as commercial banks will be regulated.
    And the Treasury is suggesting that banks which pose a bigger risk to the financial system as a whole, because of their size or inter-connections with other banks, will be regulated more heavily.
    Other off-balance sheet activities which banks used to hide their risky lending, such as structured investment vehicles, will be brought under regulation.
    The government will also assert its right to examine the books of hedge funds and private equity funds if they pose big risks to the system.
    But it is resisting EU proposals for even tighter hedge fund regulation that it says would be anti-competitive.
    The government says that regulation will have to be agreed at a global level, to avoid firms migrating to "softer" jurisdictions.
    KEY PROPOSALS: WHO WILL BE THE REGULATORS
    The White Paper is likely to endorse the current system of "tripartite regulation" where responsibility in a financial crisis is shared between the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority, and the Treasury.
    However, the Bank, which has been given the legal mandate for maintaining financial stability, argues that it needs more powers beyond raising interest rates to carry out its mandate.
    Bank Governor Mervyn King has said that without such powers, his role is merely to "preach sermons".
    The FSA, which currently has the power to declare individual banks insolvent and trigger a government takeover, says it is more important to resolve how banks are regulated than by whom.
    One possibility might be to set up a special committee, including both the Bank and the FSA, to look at issues of systemic risk and regulation.
    However, if the Conservatives win the next election, they have pledged to give the Bank of England a lead role in financial regulation.
    KEY PROPOSALS: WHAT NEW POWERS THEY WILL HAVE
    The key issue in the White Paper will be how to implement the new objective of "macro-prudential" regulation, which aims to ensure that the regulators look at the whole financial system, not just the state of individual banks.
    The government will tell the FSA to put in place tougher standards for big banks - so that they have to put aside more of their funds for a rainy day - and also hold more in cash equivalents, to prevent a bank run.
    There will be discussion of other ways of regulating credit creation, from the restriction on the size of consumer mortgage loans (or a loan-to-value limit) or a higher tax on incremental bank lending when there was a risk of overheating, but these would be unlikely to be implemented before the next General Election.
    The idea is to find a way to identify and limit "asset bubbles" such as the housing boom, without causing too much damage to the wider economy.
    The Bank of England has urged caution in deciding too quickly what are the right instruments.
    Mervyn King has said that "we are a long way from identifying precise regulatory instruments that would improve the functioning of markets".
    Many of the new regulatory powers would also need to be discussed among international regulators.
    KEY PROPOSALS: RESTRICTING THE SIZE OF BANKS
    One key issue is whether banks should be allowed to grow so big that they pose a risk to the global financial system.
    Bank of England governor Mervyn King has said: "If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big."
    But although the crisis has produced a wave of consolidations within banking, it could prove legally and economically difficult to unravel bank mergers.
    One possibility would be to tax big banks more heavily, perhaps with some form of windfall tax to cut their profits, in good times.
    Another idea would be a return to the US-style separation of investment banking and retail banking (as in the Glass-Steagall Act, which was repealed in 1999).
    KEY PROPOSALS: LIMITING EXECUTIVE PAY
    The Chancellor is keen that the banks get the message that excessive risk-taking should be a thing of the past.
    The concern has been that the system of high rewards for short-term profits encouraged bank bosses to lend too much.
    So the White Paper is likely to give powers to the FSA to impose higher capital requirements on banks whose pay structures it believes encourages too much risk-taking.
    Such higher requirements would reduce profits and presumably encourage shareholders to revolt.
    There will also be talk of strengthening the role of the shareholders and independent board directors in determining pay.
    A new code of conduct for boards is likely to be the centrepiece of proposals next week from Sir David Walker in his review of banking management.

    KEY PROPOSALS: MORE CONSUMER PROTECTION

    The Treasury will sketch out its plan for new rights for consumers in order to rebuild confidence in the financial system.
    These could include "risk alerts" for financial products such as mortgages and pensions, similar to the health warnings on food and tobacco.
    The government will also be pressing the private sector to provide more financial education and advice for consumers as they take more responsibility for their own financial affairs.
    And it may call for tougher controls on overdraft charges levied on small businesses.

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