Concern over the standards of corporate governance in the UK has led to the publication of three committee reports: Cadbury, Greenbury and, most recently, Hampel. Following the publication of the Hampel Report, the Hampel Committee has produced a document providing a set of principles and codes...

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 has the objective of reflecting on the role of non‐executive directors (NEDs) in the corporate governance process. The paper reviews the role of NEDs both from an academic perspective and from the perspective of the lead author’s practical experience of being (having been) a...

This paper examines the Competition Commission report on the provision of small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) banking services in the UK. The examination will centre on the perceived clash between the ‘remedies’ proposed by the Competition Commission and the present forms of lending...

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...