Inside Out | Lehman Brothers: seven lessons learned in the decade since the crash

At the risk of ponderous pontification, and an outpouring of rubbish, I have an irresistible urge to revisit what was perhaps the most traumatic economic event of our lifetimes. Still now, I think one of the most pertinent comments at the time came from Queen Elizabeth: “Why did no one see this coming?”

Without any precise scientific evidence, I believe the roots of the 2008 crash can actually be found in 1984. It was then that my Lloyds bank manager told me that quarterly discussions on the state of my paltry finances would end. From then on, if I had queries about my accounts, I could call a help desk in Cardiff.

It was around that time that banks began to veer away from their dull but essential role of housing our modest savings and providing loans to everyday people and small businesses, and fell in love with doing (much more profitable) business with other banks, supercharged with portfolios of exotic leveraging instruments like collateralised debt instruments and specialised investment vehicles.

So a decade on, what are for me the main lessons learned?