Is that it? Eighteen months after the collapse of the world's largest bank, the first formal investigation into what happened concluded today with the publication of a 219-word report. Yes, that's right, the results of a crucial inquiry into Royal Bank of Scotland, a bank that once boasted $3.8tn in assets, do not fill a page. Never mind the 2,300 pages recently produced by the Icelandic Truth Commission or the 2,200 pages on Lehman Brothers, all we got was 219 rather waffly words from the Financial Services Authority lawyers.
To paraphrase, though it hardly seems necessary, the City watchdog has been unable to sink any teeth into RBS's second most important executive, investment banking chief Johnny Cameron, so it has agreed a settlement with him that binds itself to silence. Cameron agrees to put his already shattered career in the City on hold and the FSA agrees to keep schtum on what it found.
We know, but only because RBS has told us, that there are similar FSA investigations into other aspects of the bank's collapse, but it's possible these will be similarly hamstrung by the lawyers. Meanwhile, all we have to explain the biggest catastrophe in post-war British industry is the FSA's report into, er, itself, and the thoughts of a few bemused MPs who held a rather insubstantial show trial at the Treasury select committee.
If ever there was a case for the incoming government to wipe the slate clean with a full national inquiry, it is now. We don't need reconciliation, just the truth.
