Professor Philip Lane:

That is interesting. We have obviously learned from the trackers but as I said earlier, globally, there are so many misconduct scandals. I encourage members to look at what is going on with the commission in Australia which has had quite an impact in recent weeks. When one looks at the history of consumer protection, one focus which remains necessary is whether customers are getting the right information and if they are being sufficiently financially educated to make financial decisions. That is not enough because there will always be asymmetry between the big financial firm and the individual, so the focus must be on the conduct of the firms and whether they are conducting themselves in a way that is fair to consumers.

This is why last year the Central Bank created a dedicated financial conduct pillar to ensure consumers and investors are protected appropriately and that markets are properly run. Ms Rowland leads that as director general of financial conduct.