February 10, 2011

Perhaps it is the regulator we need to bring home

Sir, Robert W. Jenkins in a letter titled “Call the bankers’ bluff in this cat and mouse game” makes some good comments about the implied threat from bankers moving to “greener pastures”, if regulations home get to be too tough.

Mr. Jenkins should not forget though that part of the problem is that the regulators themselves moved out, to Basel, from where, with their risk-weights which determines the capital a bank needs to have in order to back up its different assets, they manage the risks of our banks, in splendid isolation. Perhaps it is the regulator we should call back home, if only for an urgent reality check.