Why is it that when you type the pound sign (£) in a reply it appears with a funny character before it? Can't somebody fix that?

John, London,

The fact of the matter is there is still a lot of crap on banks balance sheets. ABN, Barc, Goldman's et. al. all have significant right downs to still announce. The market knows this and it is reflected in their share price, with investment banks down up to 50% this year! Resultantly as banks have their own balance sheet to prop up and own liabilities to write down, they know that by lending USD to each other they are only increasing their exposure to the current crisis.

In my view the BOE pumping funds into the inter bank market is really only a short term fix to help stabailise partly the property market. Essentially it is the end of a cycle, after a ten year bull period it is now time for the cyclical downturn.

Jor, Radlett,

It seems to me the advice itself adds to the fears and thereby the problem itself. This will only lead to more capital hoarding and sclerosis in the capital markets.

Not dissimilar to the great requirement it made on life insurers to sell shares at the bottom of the market to 'protect' their capital.

The FSA could do their job a little more quietly and a little more in advance....stress testing an outbreak of bird flu but not a credit crunch...give me strength.

harry e, London,

Lobby groups and vested interests,including the government,are piling on the pressure on the MPC to cut rates. It is truly indecent to see that reckless borrowers/lenders are considered far more important than savers.
Obviously we know which way the MPC government appointees are going to vote.
Given that the control of inflation is the mandate of the MPC as has ben stated many times in the past then the only rational decision is to raise rates.
I accept this would be ,to say the least ,difficult, so a hold decision is vital.
To cut rates now would be truly irresponsible,both in the short term and medium term. Who knows about long term anymore?.

nic, royan, france

The FSA has as usual stepped in with totaly inappropriate advice after the action. By suggesting by impplication that institutions hoard cash they are only going to make things much more diiffcult. It is high time the FSA was put out to pasture.

Diddly Do, Liverpool,

R.D. Marshal is spot on the ball.
The government cheats by taking liabities (PFI)off its balance sheet for political purposes. Why should we all not join in?

Stephen Green, Correns, France

"If the markets don’t open up we will have a much smaller, less innovative mortgage market going forward.”

Unfortunately it's the 'innovation' that has caused all the problems.

Rick, Manchester,

For once the FSA has an idea that is sensible" lenders should forego profits to priotect themselves against a collapse in liquidity" But given the inherent greed of banks there is as much chance of them doing that as all of us suddenly able to walk on water.
What has become clear over these past months is that our Regulators have been living on another planet and kept there by smooth talking bankers desperate to protect their own over valued portfolios of overstated derivitive and other incomprehensible products.
All other companies have to take these errors of judgement on the chin but banks think they can spoof everyone insofar as their assets are worth more than those of other industries.
It 's important banks after 10 years of abusing the system get real and mark there assets to market, bringing everything off balance sheet onto it so that we get the real picture. As of course should this government. What are the odds on both scenarios happening, in short ......zero

Robert D Marshall, London, UK

Why is it that amongst all the doom and gloom regarding the banking crisis/credit crunch, I am still receiving, virtually on a daily basis, letters from Credit Card Companies offering me 0% interest on credit transfers and 0% on purchases and letters from Banks and Building Societies offering me loans at competitive rates?

I agree that I have probably the highest possible credit rating and don't need all these offers but surely there must be tens of millions like me in this country who will keep this country afloat. We are not all up to our eyes in debt, worrying about how we will pay the mortgage.

Running on Empty, Gerrards Cross , Leafy Bucks

Sell and sell fast. Later would be too late..Applies to properties & banking shares..

Kara Swart, London, UK

The Fed Reserve has cut US interest rates by 0.75% and even here LIBOR rates are up. So how does cutting UK interest rates help with the credit cruch. Banks are hoarding cash; not willing to lend to other banks in case they need it themselves. Loans of over $490 billion were made to private equity firms in the 8 months to August 2007, which loans are sitting on the balance sheet of banks (which they cannot syndicate - because investors have fled). When the banks sell those loans to investors, then the credit crunch will come to an end. Investors are willing to buy those loans at a discount. What the banks should do (but won't do) is sell those loans at a loss [say 94p-95p in the £] to clear out their balance sheets. Until those loans are sold, banks will keep running to central banks to assist them and financial markets will seesaw.

Nathan Petrelli, Swindon, England

That sleeping policeman the FSA comes out with advice after the event yet again. If the FSA were a guarddog it would be toothless only waking up when the burglars had trodden on its tail on their way out. Blessed with 20/20 hindsight it struggles to its feet to pose for the cameras before falling asleep, waiting to be stirred into inaction by the next financial calamity it should be on the look out for.

Alan, luton,