The 2018 Big Bang

Abstract

On 27th October 1986 the 'Big Bang' led to a revolutionary change in the City of London's financial markets. These changes were led by the sudden deregulation of existing financial markets. This article will by analogy seek to argue that in the same vein as the 1986 Big Bang, January 2018 will precipitate a new '2018 Big Bang' in the banking, financial services, and insurance sectors across the European Union (EU). It will demonstrate the inherent difficulties that the banking system is currently facing in the EU, and will also delineate the complex, challenging, and costly existing regulatory compliance frameworks that banks, financial services firms, and insurance firms are facing today. In addition, it will seek to highlight a range of new and highly complex, challenging, and costly regulatory compliance frameworks that are set to take effect from January 2018 in the EU. It will be argued that this combination of economical circumstances, combined with overregulation throughout the EU, will lead to the next phase in the evolution of the EU's new, more robust, and more innovative financial landscape.