Short selling would be more acceptable to me if there were transparency about who is lending the shares. I and others could then consider whether we wished to continue to do business with the institutions involved.

Julian, Norwich, UK

My tailor has sold me suits (which he hadn't made yet), Bert London

I thought that no money was allowed to exchange hands until the product was available and/or being sent to you? I am not sure I would hand over money to a tailor until I saw and tried on the suit!

I think this ban makes sense

Michelle, London,

Spot on Rob Bryant, Bromley, England. Mix the UK and USA together with all the other outstanding governments throughout the sophistcated western (and eastern) world and you get a great result. Please stay Bush and come back Blair, we need you here! Good luck to all good people.

NDG, Tokyo, Japan

i just sold futures on the ftse and bought the basket of stocks, except the few i dont like. i also bought some puts for good measure.

pointless exercise. only optimists allowed to express a view now? unless they want to buy crude oil of course.

james, london,

Short-sellers are just a small part of the recent collapse in financial shares - banks are in a weak state & existing shareholders have dumped their holdings. Also major hedge funds are doing very poorly this year. It's easier to blame "those spivs" than poor government regulation and banking excess

Pico Sanchez, London,

Short selling is only possible by borrowing stocks from an institution to do so. Institutions which lend are slitting their own throats. So prohibit stock lending.
If a bank must be bailed out by the taxpayer, the price should be a ban on top executive bonuses and a substantial cut in their pay.

Jeremy Treadwell, London,

Short sellers are financial terrorists with no philosophy other than their own greed. The electronic records of these trades should be made public so that individuals can sue the perpetrators for damages. After all if someone damages your property and you can prove it you are entitled to do so.

S. Granger, West Sussex,

Spot on Rob Bryant!

sophie smith, london, uk

There is a bit of Financial skulduggery going on here. If the FSA intervened earlier with the short traders would we have seen no need for Lloyds to take over HBOS. An intriguing question!

Louis, Liverpool, UK

A mere short term fix. House prices are still falling in the US and UK and consumer spending isn't exactly in the stratosphere.

Prepare for the next massive fall. At least the public can take this chance to learn about capital markets!

John, London,

I notice that Tory chaps go stony faced with no comment when the subject of Banning Speculators hits the headlines. Would the Conservative Party upset all their city chums if they supported a crack down on Stock Market Spivs?? It seems deeply unpatriotic to line your pockets at the nations expense!

Colin, Carmarthen, United Kingdom

we need a law against profiteering. we all know it when we see it but I would define it as unfairly taking advantage of, or unfairly manipulating, directly or indirectly, any market but I would welcome any improvements on that definition

peter c, Devizes, Wessex

I totally agree with the Perth Sceptic about pension funds "lending" my life savings in order to reduce its value. It explains why I've received so many zero bonuses, i.e. zero interest on my savings.

Bill Peter, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

By the way, to whom does the stock (for shorting) loan fee go? To the fund manager or the fund?

Bill Peter, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

By banning short-selling the government is in effect closing down the futures markets. This will transfer all their volatility to the cash market, ultimately worsening the situation. Right now we are seeing precisely this effect: the Footsie is up 8% on the day - soon we will see the corollary.

Tim Bowyer, Perth, Australia

This is the ultimate bailout attempt, which will have repercussions far far beyond our imaginations:

1) We suffer a loss of Market Integrity; The UK/ US is now a Banana Republic

2) Blatant market manipulation: this is nothing more than an attempt to force markets higher;
3) The coming pop will create a huge air pocket, ultimately leading to us crashing much lower;
Expect a huge increase in volatility -- upwards first, then down

KWM, London,

What about Gordon Brown's off balance sheet antics. Is he going to take all the PFI stuff back on the Governments balance sheet? He has really been no better than a lot of the people he is decrying now.

James, Epsom , England

Good news. Dealers will now have to put their own or clients money where their mouth is and not risk others equity they do not own. They can always sell their own shares if they dont like what they see. The same principle should be applied across all sectors.

john simm, st james, barbados

Too little too late. These sharks tried once before to destabilise HBOS, but failed on that occasion only to go on to succeed here. I think a thorough investigation needs to be held, if only to prove that there was no collusion and no conflict of interest. At the moment I believe there was both.

Wendy, London,

James Currie - no, there is nothing immoral about selling things one doens't own. My tailor has sold me suits (which he hadn't made yet), booksellers sold me books (not from their stock, but they had to order). Farmers may sell this autumn's crop ahead of it being harvested. Immorality, ehm, where?

Bert, london,

Good move from the government. Now they should turn their eyes to commodity traders. They can drive gold up as much as they want (most people don't care about that) but essential commodities such as grain, oil and so on, should be limited in the way the speculators can drive their prices UP!!

Mac, Manchester, UK

Does it really make sense in law to sell something one does not own? Surely the heat would be taken out of the market if proof of ownership were required for every deal? Alternatively, 'tax' at 100% any gain made on short-selling deals determined a standing by post-event review.

Dick, Chesterfield,

.How about identifying the real bad guys, the ones who placed fraudulent mortgages and then packaged and sold them as grade A investments.
J Lee, NY, USA

Let's go one step further back. What about the guys who BOUGHT the mortgages and are living in assets they cannot afford and won't leave?

Laura Roberts, London, UK

Is the government going to now stop its casino developments and ban betting across the UK including scrapping the National Lottery?

There is no difference. Hedge Funds aren't the problem. Leave the market alone, let it collapse and rise of its own accord.

Tom Franklin, London, UK

Too late as usual, but why have politicians and regulators been so lax about the dangerous antics and stupid risk-taking of those in power in financial sector? Could it be because they have a vested interest (e.g. lucrative board positions, directorships etc.) in keeping the financial sector happy

Chris K, Cheltenham, UK

Banning things just because they highlight the catastrophe of an economy perpetuated by this government is surely illegal?

There is nothing wrong with hedge funds. There is something very wrong about a govt that steps in for some banks and not others, that cares about mortgagees and not others.

Laura Roberts, London, UK

Far too little far too late.

judy, Liverpool, England

Are the George Brown who is now so keen to stop off-balance-sheet scams and the George Brown who sanctioned this with so many PFI deals one and the same? I think we should be told!

A. Cameron, Liege,

This ban is absolutely disgraceful.
Where were the FSA when the banking industry was dishing out high income multiple self-certification mortgages over the past decade?
The real speculators are now safely guarded inside the very banks which caused the current financial meltdown in the fist place

Allan, Inverness,

Short sellers have actually saved the economy. They have correctly identified institutions who had lied about their value and reduced the price to the correct level. In the case of Lehman the firm was bankrupt. The issue is with those firms not correctly delaring exposure and losses.

Adrian, London,

Interesting... Another short term fix? Must say it does smack of the Casino rule book, win too much and you can't play anymore...

Graham, Littlehampton,

Yeah....the peasants rally with their pitchforks on this news...get the demon short sellers!!!!!!! In fact going short and long is like respiration for the markets....they need both in order to live. One has to think how long the markets can hold their breath.

Ritchie, strasbourg, France

While you're at it Gordon clean up the Govt's finances. Add your PFI liabilities to the Govt debt so we can really see how your 'balance sheet' looks. Then get the EU to clean up its finances. 14 years in a row & the accounts can't be approved/fraud. Your regulations helped create the mess we're in.

Donna Walker, Effingham, England

I'm tired of the finger pointing at the banks. How about the fact that the US government pushed through legislation in the late 70's demanding mortgage lenders give loans to people with poor credit? If the state had kept their noses out all along this wouldn't have happened.

Rich, Middlesbrough,

iIt's interesting that the UK banks that do not get full support happen to be those whose headquarters aren't in London.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

This is a bolting the stable door. Shorting should have been banned years ago and should be made permanent. How pension funds can be allowed to "lend" stock is beyond me. If the stock is shorted it returns at a lower value, are they just stupid or am I missing something?

Sceptic, Perth, W.Australia

Whoa - why just banks? Either banks live by the rules all other companies have to live by (i.e. risk of being shorted to destruction, a great idea formulated by... banks!), or all shorting is outlawed.

Shorters supposed market role? Well, if you think a stock is overvalued then just don't buy it!

Andy, Edinburgh,

Free market?? I don't see them rushing to ban shorting on commodities like oil and gold! The markets are now fixed and prices will bear no resemblance to value. This will simply cause even bigger crashes/commodity shortages in the future. But no-one cares about that, just the here and now matters.

steven pill, bedale,

The trouble is that 'The Law' and 'Justice' (read ethics) are miles apart.

Frankly, as an ordinary HBOS investor (and major loser) in this debacle, I believe that heavy handed Stock Market regulation is long overdue.

As for the greedy 'financial gangsters' that caused this-string'em up !

cap, london, uk

OK Gordon now you need to address the failures of the regulators. Oh and that goes for the so called utility regulators as well.

Dave, Chorley,

Why was this not done years ago?
It is immoral to sell something that you do not own.
To allow a few to hold society to ransom is a disgrace.These guys should have their assets confiscated under the "proceeds of crime "act and be banned from ever trading again.

James Currie, Marbella, Spain

So much for free trade. Banks are no longer run by bankers, but accountants, book makers and punters. Craving exorbitant returns based on illusion or delusion rather than lending on solid risk assessment. FSA has acted as a Casino manager does to those that are smart enough to beat the odds.

alexander, Victoria, Seychelles

So we now find the short sellers are the bad guys. How about identifying the real bad guys, the ones who placed fraudulent mortgages and then packaged and sold them as grade A investments. The short sellers are more likely to guess the real value of this stuff than the exec's even know.

J Lee, NY, USA

Brown split bank regulation between the B of E, FSA & the DTI, none of which knew what it or the others was supposed to be doing, thus no-one noticed that Northern Rock was borrowing short & lending long. This is still the case. Brown caused the whole UK credit crunch, not the US sub-prime fiasco.

Rob Bryant, Bromley, England

You wont see anyone go to jail The problem is the law and good ethics and good morals are a million miles apart The law protects the crooks who have profited and cost the citizens their shirts

gd, Auckland, New Zealand

Soros is a bright fellow. to see the parallels between epistemology, physics & economics over the ages is no mean feat for they are hidden as they are created - by our own perceptions
anyway it's all too overwhelming
nature self corrects
beware that which works too well

glenn schaefer, holbrook, us

this legislation just proves that we are all happy with the market when its going up and we are financing our houses with unstainable debt, but when short sellers uncover the true nature of the value of these lenders, we simply crumble and instigate restrictive legislation

david, london, england

Granted, short selling made a bad situation worse but the cause is something else. Mortgage lenders selling loans to other banks so they can profit from the interest generated. Such a 'borrow to lend' philosophy is completely unsustainable and in my humble opinion has just been proven so.

Richard, Cardiff,

I totally disagree with the ban on short selling. This stinks of hypocrisy: if on the one hand the west extoles the virtues of capitalism then on the hand hinders it by preventing the free market from operating. Ther eis nothing wrong with short selling, it typifies the markets approach to a stock.

Jay, London, England

A positive step forward but too late, great demaged has been done!!!!!!

David, Singapore, Singapore

about time too. can't believe it took so long for the regulators to do something about this. lets hope they don't allow it back.

stephens, china, china

'either close to implementation or being considered'
So not actually implemented. More spin and no action like the raft of legislation proposed after the Northern Rock fiasco that has resulted in not one change in legislation 12 months later.

rob, ashbourne, uk

All this drama and no one goes to jail. No one caught being criminally dishonest and unethical, yet?

Bill Smith, Brisbane, Australia

This is ridiculous. Short selling has been allowed for hundreds of years. The problem is not that, it's not Wall Street, it's the fundamentals of the banks. They failed to correctly calculate the risk of their dept derivatives and insurances. Poor management. Fueled by record US deficit. Thank Bush!

simon, stavanger,

After the last weeks of chaos caused by massive institutionallised short trading, the politicians still wimp out on permanently pulling the plug on short trading.
Looks like its time to pull the plug on the proffitering politicians themselves and put in someone who will fix the world economy.

simon, norwich,

Oh you mean like George Soros - great hero of the American left

EAG, Maritimes, Canada

About time, but as usual too little too late. We need to rid the banking system of parasites that feed upon the taxpayer in bailing out scenarios of late. Heavy handed regulation should be the order of the day.

MikeL, Manchester, UK