The lack of understanding of pensions amongst a large proportion of the UK adult population, combined with low levels of financial literacy generally, have been identified as significant barriers to saving for retirement. This article draws on the findings of the International Institute of...

Purpose – Bank regulators across the world have recently lifted restrictions on where banks can operate and what type of activities they can perform. Following the deregulation of the sector, bank mergers and acquisitions have grown substantially. The purpose of this paper is to outline bank...

Purpose – This paper seeks to analyse reasons behind the difficulties faced by Northern Rock (NR) and the UK financial system and proposes a return to a more traditional/prudent banking business model, based on a sound balance between sources and uses of funds. Design/methodology/approach –...

Purpose – While executive compensation has attracted quite a lot of media interest in the UK over the past decade, it is worth emphasising that the debate in the UK has had far less “heat” than that in the USA; this seems to be explained by the UK avoiding, for a number of reasons, the...

Some sections of society have expressed concerns that consumer debt has risen to a dangerous level. However, there is little evidence regarding how consumers themselves feel about debt. This paper reports up-to-date findings from the International Institute of Banking and Financial Services’...

This paper examines the report produced by the Competition Commission on the provision of SME banking services in the U.K. The report is assessed in terms of underlying assumptions used to describe and assess how banks operate and perform. The Competition Commission suggested “remedies” are...