Can Britain untangle the mess in its water industry?
Sir Jon Cunliffe wants to regulate water companies like banks
Bowing to the Byzantine financial complexity of privatised water in Britain, the government made an unusual choice for its “once-in-a-generation” review into the troubled sector: putting a central banker in charge. Sir Jon Cunliffe, until recently of the Bank of England, released his interim findings on June 3rd. That same morning the industry laggard, Thames Water, announced that rescue plans had collapsed. After ten weeks of due diligence KKR, a private-equity giant, decided not to inject fresh cash into the struggling and over-indebted utility.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Drip, drip”
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