With reference to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) market investigation into the supply of retail banking services to personal current account customers and to small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom:
Examine and explore the features of The Retail Banking Market in the UK that either alone or in combination, prevent, restrict or distort competition such that there are adverse effects on competition in this marketplace.
Please begin the essay with a short (max 400 words) theoretical account on the nature of competition in markets and any other relevant theoretical concepts that will inform your analysis.
Familiarise yourself with the CMA investigation’s core documents, found at: https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/review-of-banking-for-small-and-medium-sized-businesses-smes-in-the-uk
In your analysis you should apply relevant theoretical concepts to the specifics of the retail banking services marketplace for personal current account customers and small and medium- sized enterprises.
Critically evaluate the extent to which there are adverse effects on competition through reference to relevant theory and the investigation’s own findings (1100 words).
You should acknowledge all source material and use the Harvard system of citation and referencing. The module core textbooks provide a useful introduction to a number of relevant concepts, eg.
Lipczynski J, Wilson & Goddard J, (2013), Industrial Organisation, Prentice Hall
Davies H & Lam P, (2001), Managerial Economics, Prentice Hall
Griffiths, A & Wall, S, (2012), Applied Economics, Prentice Hall
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