Why is Britain taking a leading role?
As the world’s foremost banking centre, Britain has more than most at stake in repairing a system that has so rapidly disintegrated. “We regard ourselves as leaders in global finance and I think government has really sought to protect that, to protect the city as a global leader in finance,” said Charles Davis, economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research Ltd. Much of the motivation stems from the role of the country’s financial services sector, which represents a higher-than-average chunk of the country’s economic activity. Britain was the first country in the world to put together a policy package that addressed the different dimensions of the banking crisis, says economist Margaret Bray at the London School of Economics. Other countries have tackled those problems on a piecemeal basis, but Britain was the first to tackle the issues comprehensively, she said.
