The Banking System in the united Kingdom英国的银行体系
In the united Kingdom, financial institutions are categorized into two ma]or groups: the Recognized Banks and the Licensed Deposit Institutions. The criteria for each category are determined by the Bank of England~——the central Bank. The Bank of England will consider the size of the institution, its management and also the number of participants who effectively direct the business, before decisions are made on the status of the financial institutions who apply for bank licenses in the united Kingdom.
Let us look at the Recognized Banks.
These banks provide a wide range of highly specialized banking services. According to the Banking Act 1979. "Recognized Banks" must satisfy the Bank of England of their high reputation and of their integrity, management and financial prudence. The wide range of services include: i. the acceptance of sight and time deposits）; ii. loan and overdraft facilities; iii. foreign currency exchange and documentary credits and collections~; iv. financial advice for corporations and individuals; v. investment management and arrangements for the purchase and sale of securities.
As for Licensed Deposits institutions, they only provide a limited range of services. The prime services are still based on the acceptance of deposits from the public although they are not required to satisfy the rules laid down for Recognized Banks. To obtain a license, the institution must satisfy the Bank of England's requirement that all directors, controllers or managers of the institution must be an appropriate and proper person to hold that position and to conduce banking business in a proper manner.
Let us now look at the major types of financial intermediaries~ in the united Kingdom.
To begin with, we shall examine the role of the clearing Banks. These are the dominating financial intermediaries in retail banking business~ in the united Kingdom. They handle the clearing functions of banks, and are responsible for most of the country' s cash distribution and money transfer functions, which include cheque payment services and also electronic fund transfers, etc.; The retail branchwork of these banks is extensive with over 10,000 branches all over the country.
Another type of financial intermediaries in the united Kingdom are discount houses. Discount houses provide a primary channel through which the Bank of England operates in the discount market to implement its mary policy. Because of their easy access to the money market, discount houses act as market-maker in bills since they are the major underwriters of the weekly issuers of the Treasury bills of the Bank of England. Therefore, discount houses not only provide short-term funds for the government, they provide a channel for banks to adjust their portfolio holdings, i.e., their liquidity positions.
The third type of financial intermediaries in the uK are the merchant banks~ and acceptance houses. originally developed to handle businesses connection with trade, these merchant banks later expanded into foreign trade, foreign exchange and also bullion dealers. many of the merchant banks are also acceptance houses. Indeed, their functions have now expanded considerably into major overseas operations, specializing inpany financial advice, takeovers and mergers, underwritings which include the provision of additional capital through share floatation.
Finally, we should look at foreign banks in England. As a major international financial centre, London has acted as a ma to over 450 foreign banks, which have set up representative offices, branches, or subsidiarypanies. Business focus on these foreign banks cover foreign currency dealings, international finance deals to foreignpanies and governments, trade finance services to business.
Notes
1．The Recognized Banks 认可银行，在英国特指可以全面经营银行业务的银行。认可银行要受到很严格的要求，凡达不到认可标准的机构均不得使用银行名称或字样，包括不得使用“投资银行”等字样。
2．The Licensed Deposit Banks 持牌存款银行，在英国特指一些业务范围受到一定限制，规模较小的银行机构。
3．The Bank of England 英格兰银行，英国的中央银行，创立于1694年，公认为全世界中央银行的鼻祖。
4．Sight and time deposits 活期和定期存款（参见Section 3）。
5．overdraft 透支，指银行客户在一定条件下和一定范围内可以超过自己帐户存款的余额用款，实为银行对客户的一种信贷便利。
6．collections 托收，指债权人委托银行向债务人收款的一种结算方式（参见Section 6）。
7．financial intermediaries 金融中介（机构），指作为放款者与借款者中间人的