An overview of the UK banking sector since the Basel Accord: insights from a new regulatory database

This paper provides an overview of the dramatic changes in the UK banking sector over the 1989–2013 period, seen through the lens of a newly assembled database built from banks’ regulatory reports. This database, which we refer to as the Historical Banking Regulatory Database (HBRD), covers financial statement and confidential regulatory information for all authorized UK banks and building societies at the consolidated (group) and standalone (bank) level. As a result, it permits both a more comprehensive picture of the UK banking sector as well as a more refined view of subsectors, such as small banks, than possible with other existing data sets (eg from external vendors or aggregate statistics). The overview focuses on developments in banks’ CAMEL characteristics (Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management skills, Earnings performance and Liquidity), and relates these developments to concurrent regulatory changes, such as the Basel Market Risk Amendment. We also suggest ways in which the database can be used for evidence-based research and policy analysis.