FT, when helping covering up for bank regulators’ mistakes, do you lie awake, or do you sleep like a baby?

Sir, Sarah O’Connor writes “We could use more leaders in politics and business who doubt themselves, who seek the opinions of others and who lie awake worrying about the consequences of their actions.” “A spot of ‘polish’ is not going to transform the lives of state school pupils” May 8.

Indeed. The regulators in the Basel Committee decided they had the right to distort the allocation of bank credit because they thought that what was ex ante perceived as risky is more dangerous ex post to our bank systems than what is perceived as safe.

As the 2008 crisis provided more than sufficient examples of, this is clearly not the case.

But, do these regulators lie awake because of the consequences for the real economy of what they did, or do they do so because of the consequences for themselves, if their mistake is found out?

Sir, let me ask, since with your silence you’ve helped cover up for this costly mistake, so much that it has not yet been corrected, do you lie awake, or do you sleep like a baby?

@PerKurowski