Sometimes we should also beware of the experts

Sir, in your editorial “Where is all the risk”, February 3, on how financial innovations sometimes come hand in hand with diminishing transparency, you rightly conclude that “the best solution is to make sure that increased complexity is matched by increased flows of information”, though you forget the most important requirement of it, namely that the information needs to be understandable and digestible. As is we both know well that many directors of the boards of the big banks, if not all, and most of its management do not understand the information that is already flowing…does anyone?

Also, if we are going to have a chance to counter whatever the dangerous financial minefields might have in store for us, let us not only blame the “complexities” but also the arrogance implicit in ideas such as those coming from Basel about being able to drive the financial risks out from the banks, through regulations, without causing these risks to go underground, build up pressure and explode much worse. Also, as each bank risk avoided might just as well be an opportunity lost, we still have much adding to do before we get close to figure out the total cost of the whole Basel exercise. Sir, although we might indeed frequently need the help of experts, sometimes we should also beware of some of them.