Jeremy Hunt Sets Out Sweeping Reforms to Financial Sector

THE GUARDIAN: Chancellor says plans will ensure City ‘benefits from dynamic, proportionate regulation’

The chancellor has announced plans to reform and repeal a number of City regulations, including rules originally meant to protect the UK from another financial crisis, in order to “unlock” investment and “turbocharge” growth across the UK.

Jeremy Hunt’s package of more than 30 reforms was announced as he travelled to Edinburgh to meet a group of chief executives from banks and insurers, who the government hopes will be in a stronger position to grow and compete with international peers as a result of the deregulation drive.

The package, known as the “Edinburgh reforms”, is wide-ranging, spanning from plans to consult on a new central bank digital currency to changing tax rules for investment trusts involved in real estate, and reforming rules around short selling – where investors bet that the price of an asset will drop.

The government said it also plans to trial a new trading venue that would operate intermittently but allow companies to raise money from investors before officially floating shares on the public market. » | Kalyeena Makortoff, Banking correspondent | Friday, December 9, 2022

Yet more crap from the Tories! As if the financial sector weren’t already deregulated enough! Those regulations were put in place for a purpose! I fear that Hunt is setting us up well for another financial crisis in the not-too-distant future.

The Conservative Party has screwed up on a grand scale with Brexit. Through that catastrophic mistake, it has put this country in the slow lane re-economic growth. And now, the huge problem is being compounded with yet more mistakes.

I despair of this country! I should have fled this sinking ship several years ago. Alas, unfortunate circumstances—the death of my late partner—came in the way.

In my lifetime, British governments of whatever stripe have never been able to get the economy right. There have been some bright spots here and there, but on the whole, our economy has tanked. The pound sterling certainly has during the last century. Successive governments had a strategy. In economics, it is known as 'managed decline'. – © Mark Alexander

Finger-wagging Is Just Not Enough, Mr President
TIMES ONLINE: Apparently, during his big speech on financial reform last night, there were audible groans on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when President Obama said that he had “always been a strong believer in the power of the free market”.

This was presumably because that particular element of the President’s audience thinks he is anything but. Applied to their own corner of the US economy, though, why they think as they do is anyone’s guess. One year on from the collapse of Lehmans, it looks to be business as usual on Wall Street, with big bonuses in the offing amid signs that, as Mr Obama said, the lessons of the crisis have been ignored by some.

But for all his finger-wagging, for all his promises to undertake serious financial reform, the President has actually done remarkably little so far.

Apart from trying to convince Americans that big government bailouts of financial institutions have come to an end, last night’s speech was all about trying to get that process back on track, which is why a key element of Mr Obama’s plans — a new consumer protection agency to oversee financial products such as mortgages and personal loans — was again flagged.

Yet the measure looks some way from ever reaching the statute book due to a formidable lobbying effort by the financial services industry.

Other elements of Mr Obama’s proposals, such as measuring and seeking to regulate systemic risk, are even further away. Similarly, while the Administration has tabled proposals which would ensure that many over-the-counter derivatives are traded on regulated exchanges, centrally cleared and more accurately reported, these plans are a long way from being enacted.

Part of the problem is that Mr Obama’s fellow Democrats, despite controlling Congress, seem far more determined to push through healthcare reforms before they ever turn their attention to an overhaul of financial regulation.

All of this is hugely regrettable and helps to explain why so many ordinary folk on Main Street believe that the President is in thrall to Wall Street.

Meanwhile, in fairness to those NYSE traders who groaned at Mr Obama’s comment last night, the President is giving them good reason to doubt his free-market credentials. >>> Ian King, Business commentary | Tuesday, September 15, 2009