at last, some sense. Bankers getting greedy during booms is purest human nature. We're terrible at risk assessment and are by nature a bit blind when everyone else is making money, and are miserly panickers when things appear to go the other way. Its the whole reason why we have boom and bust in the first place. P{laenty of lessons to be learned, primarily that risk departments and regulatory bodies should not be pressured (by trading managers, board members or indeed governments) as financial hindrances when times are good. But as tre says there are millions of things that investment banks do. If we got rid of them as ZT seems to be suggesting, then we'd just have to reinvent them. How do you think companies raise money for capital investment, how do you think farmers mitigate against currency volatility when planning for the future, by consulting mrs miggins at the high st co-op?