In today’s Times Business, Irwin Stelzer muses about Wall Street’s apparent loss of confidence in its future :

“New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, all a twitter about Wall Street’s loss of market share to the City of London, hops over to meet financial regulators in the City. SEC chairman Chris Cox tells me he is studying FSA chairman Callum McCarthy’s use of light-handed, principles-based rather than rules-based regulation to control City types who might be overly zealous in their pursuit of bonuses.

“… Bloomberg, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and others blame Wall Street’s declining market share on the burdens placed on corporate boards by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Never mind that investment bankers’ fees are higher in America …”

However, not a lot may come of this, Stelzer thinks :

“Despite pressures coming from Messrs Bloomberg and Paulson, Hillary Clinton and others, congress and the SEC are unlikely to do more than make a slight move in the direction of UK-style, principles-based financial regulation.”

No wonder London is feeling fairly confident about its future as a world financial centre when, all around, others are losing their heads.