ABSTRACT

The images of desperate depositors queuing outside the branches of Northern Rock on Friday 14 September 2007 and the cataclysmic events that followed, including the partial nationalisation of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, have left a lingering legacy of distrust to the UK financial system. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the relationship between, on the one hand, the broader corporate law, corporate governance and securities law framework and, on the other, the prudential regulatory framework. As the book is concerned with financial institutions whose business strategies, distress and failure can affect financial stability, it is evident that only systemically important financial institutions fall within its scope, although for the sake of brevity they will be referred to simply as financial institutions.