FT243

Financial collapses rarely occur on the scale of the banking crisis of 2008, but there is nothing new or unique in the economic features that led to this collapse. While the public struggles to understand exactly what went wrong, it is certain that two contributing factors are, sadly, familiar tales – greed and delusion.


The first of these was the eagerness of banks to cash in on the property booms in the UK and US during the early/mid-2000s. Faced with an expanding and overheated market, the bankers did what bankers do best and sought to maximise their immediate returns.