Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider whether a move from self-regulation in the form of the Banking Code to statutory regulation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of retail banking conduct of business is to be supported. Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins by...

Criminal law is perhaps society’s strongest technique of formal censure. By labelling an activity as “criminal” we attach to it a special stigma. Despite this, the United Kingdom (UK) has a long history of criminalising conduct that lacks the seriousness we might expect that label to...