LEPIHKISK Mric 100/1
CHAIRMAN'S SPEECH TO THE MANSION HOUSE DINNER
Stocks
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My Lord Mayor, Mr Chancellor, Mr Governor, Your Excellencies, My Lord Chamberlain, My Lords, Ministers, Mr Mayor of Buenos Aires, Aldermen, Sheriffs, Ladies and Gentlemen.
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in the Guildhall.
Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking The surroundings are unusual, at least for this great event; but your hospitality, my Lord Mayor, is as excellent and the occasion as notable as ever. We all know what it is like to have the decorators in. You, my Lord Mayor, just have a few more square feet to cover with your roller than most of us. have our sympathies.
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I must also express our thanks to you, Mr Chancellor, for your stimulating remarks. An audience beyond this hall was hanging on your words.
My own responsibilities are more parochial, although I hesitate to use that adjective of so international and ecumenical a... parish as the UK securities industry. Indeed, we have just passed the anniversary of a significant milestone in our history.
5 Years since Big Bang
Big Bang took place five years ago this very week. I would not go quite so far as to say that this was a rifle shot which rang round the world like that fateful gunshot in Sarajevo. But the echoes of both are with us still.
For some, Big Bang was an explosion which rocked the way of doing business with which they had grown up and led to the destruction of a way of life.
For others, it marked the opening up of new opportunities as old constraints were lifted. It looked like a new dawn. Alas such rosy expectations have not always been satisfied.
For me, it was the starting gun of a long distance steeplechase. Five years on, that race is still being run. The course has been changed a bit: the stewards have lost count of the laps and somebody keeps on putting up new hurdles. I am not sure the judge hasn't run off with the finishing tape. But we have covered much ground. We know we have much further to go.
On the global race track of international trading we lead the field and we mean to keep that position. But here too we have work to do.
Regulation
I should like to say something of the tasks and the hurdles ahead. First some of the difficulties. In this country and particularly in the City, we have a long established tradition of regulation which is geared closely to the machinery of the particular markets it affects, and which maintains the necessary flexibility to meet changing conditions. As you, Mr Governor,
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