As the financial system went global [in the 1980s], so competitionbetween financial centres – chiefly London and New York – took itscoercive toll . . . if the regulatory regime in London was less strict thanthat of the US, then the branches [of international banks] in the City ofLondon got the business rather than Wall Street. As lucrative businessnaturally flowed to wherever the regulatory regime was laxest, so thepolitical pressure on the regulators to look the other way mounted.3