I think of the Takeover Panel, for example, or the work of people like Adrian Cadbury - under the auspices of the Stock Exchange - in developing corporate governance standards, or of the professional organisations which set and police accountancy rules. A similar approach was followed in relation to many commercial banking issues - through approved codes of conduct in relation to their dealings with customers accompanied by an ombudsman scheme. We were in this country sensitive to the need to distinguish between different aspects of financial market activity - very obviously in the case of the distinction between wholesale and retail activity - in trying to find the most appropriate ways of reflecting legitimate public concerns. Where there has been official intervention, it has, again by now well-established tradition, sought to avoid discrimination - whether between different types of financial institution or in the form of protective nationalism in favour of British-owned businesses, provided everyone undertaking a particular activity played by the same rules. That approach has not necessarily always been popular, I have to say, with some of those who might have benefited from such discrimination! But it is certainly one of the reasons for London's attraction as an international financial centre including its attraction to so many financial companies from elsewhere in Europe. And that international presence in turn contributes enormously to the efficiency of the London market - and indeed the European market of which we are very much a part.
Of course we followed what they were getting up to very closely, and always stood ready to help when we were called upon by the markets to do so, as we occasionally were, intervening on our own initiative only to ensure that the public interest was properly respected. For the most part we took the view that market participants know better than we do what will work and what won't; it is after all their salaries if not their jobs that are on the line. Where public policy issues were involved, we established a tradition of extensive consultation right across the relevant sections of the market - a tradition which the FSA has certainly maintained. In the UK's relatively well-developed markets - particularly the wholesale markets - we recognised early on that where intervention was judged to be necessary - in the interest of market transparency or of prudential or behavioural conduct for example - it needed to be informed by those who properly understood the subtleties of the market if we were to reduce the risk of unforeseen consequences which could either frustrate the purpose of the intervention or unnecessarily obstruct market innovation. In some instances this approach, which I suppose might be described as market-sensitive, involved encouraging the market itself to address the particular issue in question as a preferable alternative to official action.