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Financial Services Bill

At the time of the collapse of Barings, I was working at Abbey National Treasury, which was involved in a joint venture trading derivatives with Barings. I was one of those brought in to clear up the mess, for which—I hasten to add—I was not responsible. It was clear from what happened at Barings that there was a huge gulf between what the traders understood about their trading activities and what the management understood, and an even bigger gulf between the management and the regulators at the Bank of England. The Chancellor has said that the new committee will look at exotic and complex financial instruments, but how can he guarantee that its members will really understand what is happening on the trading floor?