Banking

John Walsh: Why regulating big tech must avoid the mistakes of the banking sector

The regulation of the technology giants should be done at a pan-EU level, and the government needs to get ahead of the curve rather than reacting to a crisis

The government here has not curtailed the independence of any of the major regulatory authorities – in fact, it could be argued it has moved too far in the opposite direction

Who regulates the regulators? There is no straightforward answer to what is becoming an increasingly complex question.

A well-regulated economy is a successful one. Over the past couple of decades, states across the developed world have made most regulatory bodies independent of government, on the basis that policymakers work best when they are free from political interference.

In recent years, however, there has been a rise in nationalist/populist governments that have attempted to undermine the ...