Rules imposed after
financial crisis• Финансовый кризис have ‘gone too
far’,
Reeves tells
Citybankers
Rules imposed after financial crisis• Финансовый кризис have ‘gone too far’, Reeves tells City
bankers
Chancellor uses Mansion House speech to suggest it is time to loosen some
constraints brought in after 2007-08 crash
Heather Stewart Economics editor
Thu 14 Nov 2024 18.00 GMT Last modified on Thu 14 Nov 2024 21.55 GMT
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Rachel Reeves has told City bankers attending her Mansion House speech that
regulations put in place to protect the economy after the global financial
crisis• Финансовый кризис had “gone too far”.
Speaking at the glitzy annual gathering in the Square Mile on Thursday, the
chancellor called the financial services• Экономика » Финансы » Финансовые услуги
• Сфера услуг » Финансовые услуги sector the “crown jewel” of the UK
economy.
She argued that tighter rules on banks and investment institutions after the
2007-8 crash had created “a system which sought to eliminate risk-taking”.
“While it was right that successive governments made regulatory changes after
the global financial crisis• Финансовый кризис, to ensure that regulation kept pace with the
global economy of the time, it is important that we learn the lessons of the
past,” Reeves said.
“These changes have resulted in a system which sought to eliminate
risk-taking. That has gone too far and, in places, it has had unintended
consequences, which we must now address.”
The last Labour government had encouraged the City regulator to take a “light
touch” approach to regulating the financial services• Экономика » Финансы » Финансовые услуги
• Сфера услуг » Финансовые услуги sector, but was then
forced to step in and bail out a string of banks when the US sub-prime
mortgage crisis prompted a catastrophic chain reaction.
At the time, regulators were accused of failing to rein in the risky
behaviours that had led to the crisis, which plunged the UK into recession.
But Reeves suggested she now believed it was time to loosen some of the
constraints that were subsequently imposed on the sector.
“We cannot take the UK’s status as a global financial centre for granted. In a
highly competitive world we need to earn that status and we need to work to
keep it,” she said.
The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, also addressed the Mansion House
dinner, stressing the UK’s longstanding support for free trade, as Donald
Trump prepares to slap US tariffs on imports .
“I will own up to being an old fashioned free trader at heart. It’s a British
characteristic, I like to think. My point is this: amidst the important need
to be alert to threats to economic security, let’s please remember the
importance of openness,” Bailey said.
Economists have said that if Trump goes ahead with his plan for a universal
tariff of 10% on all imports, it could cut the UK’s growth rate next year to a
sickly 0.4%. skip past newsletter promotion
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