By George I think FT’s got it: “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for” John A Shedd, 1850-1926.

Sir you write: “politicians… need banks to lend money and support economic growth (rather than inventing esoteric products to boost their bonuses). A bank that never takes any chances is not doing its job”, “Complicated banks face complex rules” August 8.

And so, are you finally waking up to the fact that banks have other purposes than not just going belly up and costing taxpayers some money? About time, why did it take you so long?

The regulators though still seem to be sleeping on it, as they insist with their risk-weighted capital requirements for banks… which are based exclusively on credit risks already cleared for by other means, and not having one iota to do with any lending money or economic growth purpose... much the contrary as these requirements profoundly distorts the allocation of bank credit.