Business schools now have an ever greater public role to play in helping to minimise future risks to the financial system by ensuring that bankers, and also insurers, understand the unique attributes of the businesses they run.

Schools need to focus on executive education for senior bankers and insurers and make a contribution to stabilising the financial system.

The banking crisis has been variously blamed on regulators for not being up to speed on what bankers were really up to, on the ratings agencies for believing what the bankers told them, on borrowers for believing there was truly a free lunch available from the banks, on accountants and the Bank for International Settlements for bringing us the miracle of fair value accounting and, of course, on bankers themselves.