London and Finance

London, the capital of the United Kingdom, is a political, cultural, commercial, industrial and financial centre of the country. At the same time London is one of the world's financial capitals. The business centre of London is the City, where numerous banks, various exchanges, insurance offices, shipping and other companies have their head offices.

At the heart of the City is the London Stock Exchange where millions of shares and securities are traded daily. There are also exchanges in several other cities of the United Kingdom but the London Stock Exchange is the most important. Here through the Exchange members the investor can buy or sell shares in any of the thousands of companies which are quoted on the Exchange and many more companies which are quoted on recognized exchanges overseas. The London Stock Exchange offers the largest range and number of securities quoted on any Stock Exchange in the world. In volume of business it ranks third to New York and Tokyo.

London is also the headquarters of many prominent international banking and insurance concerns which deal in foreign shares, insurance and bonds and handle English investments in other countries.

The central feature of government finance is the Bank of England, founded under a royal charter as a private company in 1694 to provide loans to the Government and nationalized in 1946 by Act of Parliament. The Bank of England is the country's national bank, it carries out government monetary policies and acts the "banker's bank" for privately owned banks and other Commonwealth nations.

Most domestic banking operations of the United Kingdom are carried on by the commercial clearing banks. The main commercial banks are Lloyds Bank, Barclays Bank, Midland Bank and National Westminster Bank, often referred to as "the Big Four".

Paper currency in circulation is issued by the Bank of England. The monetary unit is the pound sterling equal to 100 pence.

II. Answer the following questions:

1) What is London?

2) What is the business centre of London?

3) What is at the heart of the City?

4) Are the exchanges in other cities of the United Kingdom?

5) What can the investor do here through the Exchange members?

6) What does the London Stock Exchange offer?

7) What does it rank in volume of business?

8) What other headquarters are there in London?

9) What can you say about the Bank of England?

10) How are most domestic banking operations of the United Kingdom carried on?

11) What are the main commercial banks?

12) Who issues paper currency in the country?

III. Sum up what the text said about:

London in general;

London and international business;

the City of London;

the London Stock Exchange;

the Bank of England;

the Big Four;

British money.

I. Translate the following speech patterns and memorize them:

Well, let's get started.

Well, this is how we see it.

Oh, I am afraid these periods are too long.

We cannot agree with you.

These are in fact the usual periods.

It's pretty normal in this kind of operation.

I see what you mean.

But that would be difficult.

I am afraid I cannot agree to that.

Well, you are really asking us for something that is very difficult.

I've already offered you seven weeks.

I've got a proposal.

Well, on that basis I suppose we might be able to look at some kind of arrangement.

Let's consider it settled.

I'm glad we have come to an agreement.

II. Read the conversations and then role play them.