Assess the future prospects for British banks Essay

Assess the future prospects for British banks - Essay Example banks provide extremely good value for customers unlike in other countries where customers pay both to have bank account and for the services they use whereas in U.K. banks, they provide free banking including access to free debit card, free access to ATM’S, free use of cheques, internet banking etc. Their charges are transparent and are advised to customers when they open the account. Banks generally publish their tariff charges also. London is both home to the world headquarters of the major British banks, and the host to major trading activities of both US and Continental European banks. London today is with 264 foreign banks and has 20 % of international bank lending. So it becomes the largest center for cross border banking. British banks account for 5 of the worlds top 20 by market capitalization, while there are 7 in the rest of Europe, 6 in America, and the remaining 2 are Japanese (Smallwood, 2005). The development of a number of world-class British-based banks successes is based on their own competitiveness, and not on any degree of government subvention or protection. A consequence of this is that London is, and is likely to remain for at least some appreciable time, the most international of capital market centers. The UK accounts for 60 per cent of primary international bond trading, and 70 per cent of secondary. There are more companies listed on the London Stock Exchange than on either the New York or Tokyo exchanges. In the OTC derivatives market, the UK accounts for over 40 per cent of global trade, compared with 24 per cent for the US, 10 per cent for France, and 3 per cent for Germany. Our fund management and insurance industries are both the third largest in the world, behind those of the US and Japan. The good news is the present strength of banks: a high level of profitability, strong levels of capital, and risk management, which has