It is probably more inspiring to produce a report with findings about the measures that could have been taken to prevent the NR debacle.

Charles, Hong Kong,

Here's a website that seems toget to the source of the world wide financial mess- It's a bit dense and about 10 pages long but it's worth it-

http://my.opera.com/richardinbellingham/blog/show.dml/1796860

david, West Hartford, CT/USA

Abject failure. Actually I don't think these things are necessarilly as predictable as people are now claiming in hindsight and if the FSA took a zero risk approach then the economy could well come to a grinding halt... take the risk out and you take the enterprise out.

Having said that the FSA insist those they regulate are transparent, that they deal with customers in plain english , that they keep accurate records etc etc... on all these grounds the FSA fails time amd time again... lets remember when the FSA took over mortgage regulation (at massive cost though at little benefit to consumers) they proposed if you can believe it that areas they would not regulate would include Lifetime mortgages and equity release mortgages.... it took the brokers and industry insiders time and effort to tell them what a blind man could have seen which is these are the most risky areas which are the ones they should regulate first... frightening that they did not see this.

abharrisson, london,

Sir,
Like the earlier post-mortems from the Bank of England and the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, the "trivial, Pooterish detail" ( Patrick Hosking) of the FSA report ignores some basic questions.
(1) How much of the money that fuelled the credit bonanza, sub-prime market and associated financial boom was created out of thin air by commercial banks as loans to one another?
(2) Did allowing commercial banks to create huge amounts of money for that purpose make it difficult for the authorities to assess the consequences when the boom went bust and the tangle of international interbank indebtedness began to unravel?
(3) If so, what can be done to prevent it happening again?

Yours sincerely

James Robertson, Cholsey, Wallingford, England

Today it is all about credentials and procedures being followed and nothing about experience and substantial knowledge.

ed b, brooklyn, new york USA

Hi,
Mad moment of Swiftian mischief. Strange things are happening in the banking world for example the Deutsche Bank’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Group Executive Committee Mr. Ackermann who in the past has been vigorously against state intervention has recently demanded the state should bail the banks out. He also said the situation will affect private customers. Honest politicians have demanded the bank open there book to establish transparency which they refuse they just want the money.
Regards Dr. Terence Hale

Terence Hale, zandvoort, Holland

sir
If my systems do not come up to the required levels, Im fined and can lose my business .

Hit the culprits in their own pockets , through the courts if need be. They take a salary for doing the work .

Robert . I FA Birmingham

robert, birmingham,

This is too funny. As somebody with 20 years banking experience, I agree with Tim: Northern Crock was always a disaster waiting to happen.

Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it.

An identical and fundamentally flawed business plan was tried by Continental Illinois a few decades ago - it failed then too. That time it was the US taxpayers that had to bail out.

Criminal negligence should be prosecuted.

Steven Bowles, Faversham, Kent

At the FSA, as in most walks of life these days, there is no room for judgment. Judgment implies a process which is not open, transparent and subject to proper control. Judgment is necessarily a hunch, the application of prejudice, and therefore by implication, for the person on the downside of the judgment, grounds for legal of other challenge.

It is our moral cowardice in failing to champion judgment that is the root of much of what is wrong with our society today.

Robert Jones, Bridgwater, UK

Who, if any one, predicted the Credit Crunch before last August. I can not remeber a single article in the financial press doing so.
Having said that did anyone in the FSA understand the nature of the finanacil products that caused the problem? Clearly nobody in either the Banks (except Goldman Sachs) or the rating agencies did.

Stephen Green, Correns, France

Lets face it, the FSA want to be a regulator that allows a "laissez faire" approach. Poor record keeping is an example of this approach. They don't like hard and fast rules they prefer judgement (wrong judgement), a recipe for disaster.

bob taylor, castelnau, France

Sir,

30 years experience in the City of London, trading various currencies, commodities and derivatives, leaves me completely at a loss as to why the FSA ignored all the warning
signs in regard to Northern Rock. As far back as 2000 markets expressed doubt and advserse comment in regard
to small building societies becoming "big league" mortgage and credit providers.
To allow a financial services company, however big or small,
to ignore the basic rules of operating liquidity is, at best inept,
at worst criminal. As most people who have been running financial institutions during the last 15 years will accept the FSA has been sold to us all as a neccessary and beneficial
regulator, with power to inspect, intervene and prosecute.
SNAFU then.

Yours sincerely

Tim Wyeth, Basingstoke, UK

Now that fault has been accepted, we can only wait to see the size of the fine with which the FSA penalises itself. That way, the taxpayer can lose twice, which is the norm, unless of course they choose to fund it through cancellation of the bonuses of their top execs.

DavidL, Worthing, England