This chapter explores the European banking supervision and regulatory architecture. The aim of the introduction of European policy and law in bank regulation is was to build a single market in financial services and to give effect to the freedom of movement of capital. In the midst of the global financial crisis in 2008, the European Commission established a high-level group of experts chaired by Jacques de Larosière to recommend a blueprint for financial supervision in the EU going forward. The de Larosière Report provided a comprehensive analysis of the weaknesses in the financial sector in the EU and recommended stronger regulatory governance in many areas. The chapter then considers the Banking Union, a policy that introduces a new supervisory architecture for euro-area banks.
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Iris Chiu and Joanna Wilson
This chapter addresses the UK bank supervision and regulatory architecture. Although banking business has existed in England since the seventeenth century, banks enjoyed no formal system of regulation until the introduction of the Banking Act of 1979. Over the years, the scope and intensity of regulation increased. After the global financial crisis, further changes were made to bank regulation as well as the regulatory architecture in the UK for bank regulation. The regulatory architecture introduced in April 2013 is characterised as ‘twin peaks’, that is, having two main agencies that are responsible for different regulatory objectives. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is responsible for ‘prudential’ objectives—that is, the solvency and financial soundness of financial institutions—while the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is responsible for conduct of business and market regulation, including promoting competition. The PRA and FCA enjoy a wide berth of rule-making and enforcement powers.
