List of figures -- List of tables -- List of boxes -- The role of the financial system -- Financial claims -- Sectoral analysis of the financial system -- National wealth -- Sector balance sheets -- Sector financial transactions -- Financial accounts for the UK economy -- Financial intermediation and recent developments in the UK financial system -- The nature of financial intermediation -- What do financial intermediaries do? -- Implications of financial intermediation -- The future for financial intermediation -- Evolution of financial systems -- Recent developments in the UK financial system -- Retail banking -- Nature of retail banking in the UK -- Recent changes in retail banking in the UK -- Payments services -- Risks in retail banking -- Wholesale and international banking -- Nature of wholesale banking -- Off-balance-sheet business -- International banking -- Sovereign lending crisis -- Building societies and finance houses -- History of the building society movement -- Competitive pressures on building societies -- Consequences of the competitive pressures -- After the Act -- The balance sheet of building societies -- The finance houses -- Investment institutions -- Types of investment institution -- General insurance -- Nature of the liabilities of pension funds and life assurance companies -- Portfolio investment of pension funds and life assurance companies -- Unit trusts and investment trusts -- The performance of institutional investors -- Appendix. Lloyd's of London -- Financial markets: introduction.