Part IV Common Law Legal Systems, 11 United Kingdom

Subject(s):

Civil liability of lenders — Regulatory liability of lenders — Bank resolution and insolvency — Bank supervision — Capital markets — Financial regulation — Bank of England — UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) — UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)

This chapter examines the potential civil liability to depositors and investors of the financial supervisory authorities—the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Bank of England—in the UK. Both at common law and by express statutory provision significant hurdles have been erected for claimants in such cases, including a general requirement of bad faith and difficulties establishing causation, and therefore there have been no successful reported cases. In contrast various public inquiries have revealed very significant failures in supervision of financial firms in the UK, but where compensation has eventually been paid, in cases where political pressure has made it difficult for governments to refuse, such sums have been ex gratia and typically modest.