UK: Lib Dems - "A New Deal for the City"

The UK Liberal Democrat Party has today published a manifesto titled A New Deal for the City, which outlines proposals for the reform of financial regulation. With regard to the role of the Bank of England and the FSA, the manifesto states:

"One lesson from the past is that there has to be a clearer line of responsibility in crisis situations. We would argue that the Bank of England should have primary responsibility, ultimately accountable to Treasury Ministers, and the FSA could be a freestanding agency within and subordinate to the governance structure of the Bank".

With regard to corporate governance, the manifesto states:

"There is a need for reform in the City to stop entrepreneurs' natural animal spirits creating a culture of greed and gambling. One route is through strengthened corporate governance arrangements under which senior executive pay packages are subject to shareholder approval at AGMs (and not just scrutiny, as at present) though this approach would be helpful only for PLCs and there are many institutions which contribute to systemic risk".