This paper was presented by J S Fforde, an adviser to the Governor, to a conference of central bankers from eleven countries arranged by the Bank in May. It begins by briefly outlining the development of competition and innovation in the British banking system from the 1950s up to 1980. It goes on to identify the deregulatory process which ensued and to discuss its effect on, first, the conduct and technique of monetary policy and, second, the supervisory framework. After a brief description of the development of the building societies over the same period it then seeks to develop, in regard both to very recent and to foreseen future innovation, the general approach adopted in the first part of the paper.
Competition innovation and regulation in British banking - UK paper