– From Front and Center, by Bud Burrell –
In a stunning move last week, the United Kingdom liquidated its Financial Services Authority (its analog to the US’ Securities and Exchange Commission) with little notice, and in the move, shifted all of their regulatory functions and authority to the UK Central Bank. The stated reasons for this move were several. First, the Government cited numerous regulatory oversight failures, not the least being their failure to pick up on the monstrous frauds in sub-prime mortgages and CDO’s. Other breaches of their fiduciary duties included failures to properly regulate UK hedge funds, along with the absence of proper oversight of off shore entities involved in manipulation while under Commonwealth legal authority. [entire post]