Restructuring the British Financial Sector into the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

THERE IS PROBABLY MORE coverage in the media of the changing fortunes of the financial industry than of any other part of the British economy. Newspapers devote acres of space to it, while both radio and television have niche financial programmes and an obsession with the Financial Times 100 rate. Yet, with one or two notable exceptions, the vast majority of this coverage consists of regurgitation of press releases from financial companies who want to invest your money in their PEPS, Tessas, investment trusts, pensions and so on. Very little attention is paid to the wider systemic implications of changes in the financial sector, to the changing geography of finance, or to the nature of work within it.