The Treasury have outlined plans to ensure that a repeat of the Northern Rock crisis is averted in the future. Six new safeguards will be introduced that will try to make sure that if banks show signs of crisis there will be measures in place to ensure that the crisis does not worsen and become a catastrophe as with the Rock.

The FSA will also be more vigilant in supervising banks from now on so that the industry is not caught unawares. Many have surmised that had these provisions been put in place prior to the crunch a lot of misery could have been avoided.

Lucy Trueick