Northern disgrace

Their arrogance – symptomatic of the wider banking industry – meant there was no chance to take pre-emptive action to shore up Northern Rock's balance sheet before nationalisation, paid for by the taxpayer, was the only resort.

These two men simply gambled the future of the company, and their loyal customers, in the misguided hope that the crisis in the sub-prime mortgage lending market would disappear.

Two wider lessons must now be drawn from the action taken by the Financial Services Authority. Never again must such individuals be placed in positions of trust within the financial sector. Their risk-taking has caused untold misery for millions of homeowners.

Second, the FSA inquiry should not end here. If other bankers are found to have flouted financial regulations, or even the ethics of this industry, then they, too, should have the book thrown at them.

Like politics and the MPs' expenses scandal, the banking industry has a long way to go before it can, once again, command the public's trust and respect.