Federal Trust: The Reform of Financial Regulation in Europe

11 June 2009

Sir Brian Unwin and Graham Bishop warn of the dangers to the City from remaining outside European regulatory arrangements. The City cannot afford the risk of self-marginalization.

Proposals for financial regulation currently under consideration in the European Union could be a decisive factor in the debate on the United Kingdom’s future in Europe.

 

In a report for the Federal Trust to be published on Friday, 12th June, Sir Brian Unwin and Graham Bishop urge the British government to adopt a positive attitude towards the proposals contained in the de Larosière report and the recent Commission Communication on this subject.

 

The report notes that, rather than over-regulating during the last ten years, the European Union’s leaders have fought shy of integrated regulatory systems for their increasingly integrated financial institutions. It is only the near collapse of the European banking system in 2008 which has led them to look anew at these questions.

 

There is a consensus among the member states of the European Union, with which Gordon Brown associated himself at the last European Council, to regard the de Larosière report’s proposals for a European System of Financial Supervisors as the future basis for European financial regulation and supervision.

 

The British government should think long and hard before listening to calls to dissociate itself from this consensus. The position of the City is not so strong that it can afford to be marginalized in Europe and the British government needs the City to be at the centre of European and global finance, given its own funding needs over the coming years.

 

The full paper can be downloaded below.

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