Who should have seen the economic collapse heading towards the UK?
As the Treasury select committee continue the government's onslaught against the UK banking sector it would appear that it was not only the UK banking companies which were caught out by the recession, but the government itself. When pushing for an explanation as to why various UK banks had not been able to monitor and react quickly enough to the ongoing banking recession it was suggested that the Treasury, together with their inside track on the UK economy, also missed the signs as the recession hit the UK.
In hindsight there were signs that the UK economy, UK banking sector and UK consumers in general were overspending and overstretching their finances, but who could have guessed the US credit crunch would have had such a dramatic effect around the world. HBOS in particular, along with Northern Rock, would appear to be one group which depended heavily upon wholesale money markets and was caught out when they effectively froze.
The blame game seems set to continue for some time when in reality nobody had experienced such a dramatic downfall in the world economy and nobody really knew what to expect. Despite the ongoing witch hunt by the government it would be both foolish and unfair to blame everything on those who held leading positions in the UK banking sector.
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