reply to post by endisnighe
As far as I am aware the bank of england is fairly similar to the federal reserve, it gives loans to the government (treasury department), sets the
base rate of borrowing for high street banks and controls the rate of inflation. The Bank of England operates independently of government as far as I
am aware but is given objectives by the government.
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and was established as a corporate body by Royal Charter under the Bank of England
Act 1694. The Bank was nationalised on 1 March 1946, and gained operational independence to set interest rates in 1997 (the Bank of England Act 1998
Part II sets out the responsibilities and objectives of the Bank in relation to monetary policy).
www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/annualreport/index.htm
The "big banks" are normally referred to as high street banks in the UK some of which are Royal Bank of Scotland, Halifax Bank of Scotland, Lloyds
TSB (now owns Halifax Bank of Scotland), Barclays, Abbey etc.
The high street banks have been lending to the subprime markets (cattles plc) and the loans are not being repaid because the customers cannot afford
the repayments just like the US.
As for, is there a way to destroy the smaller competition, the scenario here is pretty much the same situation with different companies. The bank
charge case however would directly impact the main big banks so the small and the large are going to take a hit if this bank charge case is ruled in
favour of the customers.
As far as I can see nothing like this has happened before anywhere where big banks have to pay a huge sum of charges back to customers and take a hit
from the subprime market not being able to repay business loans, looks like a big double wammy of a mess if that makes sense. The big banks are
already being bailed out by the government as it is and none of these things have hit yet.
Im not an expert and would appreciate another member who has more knowledge of the system maybe adding some information here.
As far as I understand the system however.
Bank of England --> Government/High street banks ---> Subprime/Businesses/Customers
[edit on 22-10-2009 by XXXN3O]