Bang! Sir David Walker’s report closes the banks’ stable door after the money has gone. But how long before his tough boardroom measures become ‘best practice’ for all companies, i.e compulsory?

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Tesco is the retailer that everyone loves to hate – but where everyone shops. One day it will become a mature business but for now it is teaching rival corporations that big companies can still be flexible.
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I don’t know what the definition is of insider-dealing in Sunderland, but in the City it means trading shares with privileged information. It doesn’t mean writing newspaper stories that move share prices.
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If you spend years feeding the bears you can’t complain when they bite you. Now that Aviva (LON:AV) has been the victim of short-selling the insurance giant is belatedly thinking it should not be lending them the stock to sell short.
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A reality television show based on hedge funds looks as mis-timed as all those property programmes that are beyond their show-by dates. But is BBC2’s Million Dollar Traders intended to make us envy hedge dealers or hate them?
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Ending the ban on short-selling financial stocks is not only good in principle, it is also encouraging for investors. When other arms of government are tightening controls, the Financial Services Authority has signalled that there is light at the end of the credit crunch tunnel.
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Stopping a clock does not stop time and suspending dealings in shares doesn’t stop their value falling. As directors of an investment house, New Star Asset Management’s board, of all people, should know that.
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Is the ban on short-selling shares working? No-one can say, so let’s set up an experiment that allows hedge funds to deal in half the stocks while the rest remain protected.
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