Discuss the banking regulatory and market framework in UK, address Assignment

Discuss the banking regulatory and market framework in UK, address thestrengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats - Assignment Example In 2009, collections for insurance premiums alone totalled nearly ?200 billion. The UK market for equities garnered 17% share of the global market in 2009, ranking only behind New York. Likewise, the fund management industry ranks among the world’s largest, managing some ?4.1 trillion for the year 2009. All in all, the financial services sector turned in the largest volume of corporate taxes for 2010, which comprised 11.2% of total tax receipts for the entire year. Contribution of output & employment to the UK economy from each financial services sector Financial Services Sub-Sectors Output (% of GDP) Employment Banking 5% 435,000 Insurance 2% 300,000 Fund Management 1% 50,000 Others including securities derivatives, commodities, and bullion 3% 208,000 Total 10% 993,000 Source: U.K. Parliament, 2011 Definition of financial stability The Bank of England is the statutorily designated entity to ensure the financial stability of the financial system of the UK, as pronounced in the Banking Act 2009. The specific definition of financial stability is difficult to delineate, because its context evolves over time. According to Adrian Coles, Director General of the Building Societies Association, articulated a definition for the proximate term, â€Å"monetary stability† in terms of a measurable objective, that is, the maintenance of a target inflation at 2%. In contrast, he highlights the elusiveness of the definition of financial stability: â€Å"How do we measure financial stability? How do we measure the success of the PRA? Is it one collapsed institution a year is okay but five, the Governor of the Bank has to write a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer?† (Coles, in UK Parliament, 2011). This is one of the problems that must be faced if an agency is to be created and charged with the monitoring and maintenance of financial stability in the UK financial services industry. A consensus must be arrived at concerning its meaning, the extent to w hich it shall be achieved, the powers needed to ensure it, whether other policy objectives may be traded off for it, and in the case of the latter, how such trade-offs may be carried out. The most likely measures are to institute tighter measures to ensure increased capital ratios and improved quality of capital; however, these may only mitigate the dire effects of a crisis, not prevent them. In the past, however, the economic shocks used to emanate elsewhere in the system, such as in trade or business operations, and sometimes as a repercussion of unforeseen events, and then trickle down to the financial system. The recent crisis, however, emanated from a cause principally within the system, as a direct consequence of the actions of financial institutions, and then transmitted through the financial network by contagion (UK Parliament, 2011). In a market based economy, uncompetitive and inefficiently managed corporations should be allowed to fail: such is the position of the UK fina ncial authorities. In a stable financial system, though, other institutions should not be hard hit by contagion, or the adverse effects should be limited. The companies destined to fail should fail in such a way that it is the shareholders and creditors of the company that bear the risk of failure, not the public. â€Å"If necessary, an institution can be allowed to fail in a way that does not disrupt the financial system as a whole† (Treasury Committee, in UK Parliament, 2011). A major concern that must be addressed in the containment of contagion risks is the