Could some bureaucrats wanting to hold on to their reputations and jobs, really be allowed to bring Europe down?

Sir, I refer to Claire Jones’ “ECB bond-buying plan risks falling short” October 22.

In it, Lorcan Roche Kelly, economist at Agenda Research, is quoted saying: “It’s very hard to make an argument for how corporate bond purchases [by ECB] lead to growth. Large corporations are not SMEs; they’re not having much trouble raising debt.”

Indeed, it is SMEs, and others perceived as “risky”, who are denied fair access to bank credit because of the horrendously distorting credit-risk-weighted capital (equity) requirements for banks.

But that is ignored (even by FT) or even hushed-up, because Mario Draghi, as the former chairman of the Financial Stability Board, and other of his colleagues, do not want that to be recognized as a monstrous regulatory mistake.

The banks, unwittingly, and hopefully unwillingly, have been intimated into a for Europe extremely dangerous risk aversion, and of which they cannot get out of, all because their lack of sufficient bank equity make them so dependent on what for instance Mario Draghi’s ECB does.

What a sad mess! Could some bureaucrats wanting to hold on to their reputations and jobs, really be allowed to bring Europe down?