Inquiry into the Supervision of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International

The Bingham Inquiry examined the supervision of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) following its collapse in July 1991, when regulators in 69 countries simultaneously closed what was then the largest bank failure in history. Lord Justice Bingham's report, published in October 1992, found that the Bank of England had been too cautious and deferential in its supervision, and that international regulatory cooperation had been inadequate for overseeing a bank operating across multiple jurisdictions.

While the inquiry made no formal recommendations, its findings informed significant reforms to UK banking supervision. The Bank of England Act 1998 transferred banking supervision from the Bank of England to the newly created Financial Services Authority, with the BCCI failure cited as evidence of the need for regulatory reform. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 established the FSA as a unified financial regulator. The inquiry's findings also contributed to international regulatory developments, including the Basel Committee's Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision published in 1997.

The regulatory architecture established following BCCI's collapse remained in place until the 2008 financial crisis, when the Financial Services Act 2012 abolished the FSA and returned banking supervision to the Bank of England through the new Prudential Regulation Authority. The BCCI case remains a landmark in the development of international banking supervision and anti-money laundering frameworks.

Bank of England Act 1998 (Transfer of Supervision)

Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 PRIMARY

Led directly to Financial regulation and banking supervision