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Regulatory foundations of financialisation: May Day, Big Bang and international banking, 1975–1990

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2020

Catherine R. Schenk
Catherine R. Schenk*
Affiliation:
Oxford University
*
C. Schenk, Professor of Economic and Social History, St Hilda's College, Oxford University, Cowley Place, Oxford, OX4 1DY, UK; email: [email protected].
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Abstract

From the 1970s to the 1990s there was a revolution in international financial markets, which combined the processes of financialisation and globalisation. Deregulation and financial innovation were the two underlying forces that facilitated this transformation. At the same time, distinctive national characteristics of banking structures and cultures influenced the way that financial globalisation affected the geographic distribution of financial activity. This article addresses these seismic shifts through three perspectives: changes in regulation and the geographic pattern of international banking activity, reform of the main stock markets in New York and London and the rise of financial conglomerates. It identifies complementarity as well as competition among international financial centres.

Keywords

financialisationglobalisationderegulationinternational financial centresfinancial conglomerates

JEL classification

G34: Mergers • Acquisitions • Restructuring • Corporate Governance G15: International Financial Markets N40: General, International, or Comparative G28: Government Policy and Regulation N20: General, International, or Comparative
Type
Articles
Information
Financial History Review , Volume 27 , Special Issue 3: Finance, financiers and financial centres: a special issue in honour of Youssef Cassis , December 2020 , pp. 397 - 417
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Association for Banking and Financial History

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Footnotes

I am grateful for the research assistance of Raphael Heim and Dr Wilfried Kisling.

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