The Financial Services Authority (FSA) which is supposed to be the watchdog of the city, has today said that under new guidelines, banks would be facing "intensive supervision"in the future.
The FSA’s chairman, Lord Turner, has promised a more intrusive approach which will include new rules to control banks’ bonus policies and monitoring the level of capital that banks should keep in reserve to mitigate the potentially disastrous effects of overly risky investment.
All fine aims, but surely it is the function of a financial watchdog to be proactive and not reactive.
Today’s announcement, is what is more commonly known as locking the stable door after the horse has bolted!