ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the tension between calculated risk-taking and reckless risk-taking, and whether the creation of a new criminal offence is necessary. It analyses the activities of Barclays Bank which culminated in the Financial Services Authority (FSA) imposing a penalty of 59.5m in June 2012 for various breaches of the Principles of Business Handbook. The book defines 'shadow banking', discusses the emergent analyses of the phenomenon of shadow banking and concurs that it is regulatory arbitrage that is the main factor behind the expanding chain of units and functions of shadow banking and problematises the extreme opacity that this phenomenon brings to the operation and governance of the global financial system. It explores that anti-money laundering legislative measures are of limited use only since they are dependent on rigorous application by the banks.
