The Structure of the Banking System Between the 1960s and the 1980s

This chapter can be really defined as ‘historic’, because of the great changes that have affected the British banking system after the 1980s. Even if no gap can be found in the evolution — institutional, structural, operational — of the system (‘historia non facit saltus’), it’s undeniable that the present configuration bears only a thin resemblance to the previous morphology, legislation, functions. At the same time, this retrospective view of the banking and financial industry, also in its interactions with public policy issues and cultural frameworks then prevailing, is useful in order to put in focus the situation of today, and to understand better the most recent turmoil and its possible (not necessary) outcomes.