UK: financial regulation - complexity demands simplicity

Andrew Haldane, the executive director for financial stability at the Bank of England, delivered a speech last week titled 'The Dog and the Frisbee': see here (pdf). In a wide ranging speech, Mr Haldane expressed concern with the growing complexity of regulatory responses to the financial crisis, including Basel III and developments in the UK and USA, and argued that regulation should be grounded in simplicity. He noted, however, that this would require a dramatic change of approach by regulators.