The dynamics of financial capital: a comparative study of Great Britain and Japan

Abstract

​The article sets out to compare the dynamics of the links between banks and industry in two developed countries: Great Britain and Japan. Four propositions are examined: there is a tendency towards linking financial and non-financial firms, linking manifests itself organisationally as financial groups, banks are in a dominant position, and that linking leads to a growing monopolisation of the economy. Our data shows that, in both countries, there has been a tendency towards closer links between financial and non-financial firms, but only in the Japanese case one can speak of the existence of financial groups. Available information questioned the domination of productive enterprises by banks in both countries. Finally, we also found that closer bonds between banks and industry led to an increasing monopolisation of both economies, although in the Japanese case this was the result of man financial groups policy of positioning in key markets, while in the British one it resulted from banks financing for mergers and takeovers. The article ends with some thoughts on the applicability of the theory of finance capital to the British case.