ABSTRACT
The British banks, it is alleged, are more concerned with earlier repayment and with short-term profit prospects, while the Stock Exchange puts far more emphasis on the secondary market in existing shares than it does on the new-issue market providing equity funds for industry. The banks should be more concerned with directing funds to companies and projects which will show an adequate return in the long run. They should also have a closer day-to-day relationship with their industrial clients. The clearing banks initially began to undertake most of this type of lending, especially medium-term, through their specialised subsidiaries which were able to borrow the funds through the new so-called wholesale money markets, which began to develop in London in the 1960s, first in Eurocurrencies and later in sterling itself. The clearing banks too have been bringing in experts to advise them, especially, as we have seen, in their recent financing of North Sea oil developments.
