Isaac Alfon, Isabel Argimon and Patricia Bascuñana‐Ambros
This paper presents the findings of a survey of UK banks and building societies undertaken to understand management’s reasons behind their decisions about capital. The survey…
Abstract
This paper presents the findings of a survey of UK banks and building societies undertaken to understand management’s reasons behind their decisions about capital. The survey shows that: (a) firms use different approaches to form their views about “desired” capital; (b) the main factors explaining the level of a firm’s desired capital are financing the firm’s long‐term business strategy and FSA’s capital requirements; (c) actual capital usually exceeds firms’ desired capital; (d) a change in a firm’s individual capital requirements is likely to lead to a change in its desired capital in the medium term. The paper reflects the authors’ views and not the corporate views of the FSA.
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The proposed contents of the planned Financial Services and Markets Act have been revealed in the draft bill (FSMB) that was introduced into Parliament on 17 June, 1999 and in…
Abstract
The proposed contents of the planned Financial Services and Markets Act have been revealed in the draft bill (FSMB) that was introduced into Parliament on 17 June, 1999 and in various announcements by the government. On that basis, the Act is expected to require the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to have regard, in discharging its functions, to the economic impacts of the provisions it makes and to publish a cost‐benefit analysis (CBA) of proposed rules and general guidance with respect to the operation of rules. This paper describes the technical and organisational measures that the FSA is taking in order to fulfil the FSMB's requirements for CBA and considers the rationale for those requirements. The paper suggests that the case for undertaking cost‐benefit analysis rests on the dangers of interfering in markets without analysing the likely consequences in a rigorous and theoretically sound manner. The paper also reviews the (so far limited) experience of applying cost‐benefit analysis to financial regulation in the UK and suggests how difficulties in the assessment of the costs and benefits can be addressed, with a consequent increase in the value of financial regulation.
The increasing use of cost‐benefit analysis (CBA) in financial regulation is bringing a sharper focus on the benefits conferred by regulation. This paper addresses the impact of…
Abstract
The increasing use of cost‐benefit analysis (CBA) in financial regulation is bringing a sharper focus on the benefits conferred by regulation. This paper addresses the impact of that sharper focus on the compliance culture of regulated firms. Why focus on the benefits of regulation? What does CBA have to offer to the compliance culture of authorised firms? How does the introduction of CBA fit in with other developments in the regulatory arena? This paper offers some tentative answers to these questions.