When The Banker magazine launched its inaugural edition in 1926, Britain had returned to the gold standard only a few months earlier. The interwar years were marked by turbulence, volatility and uncertainty which had a serious impact on the economy. When we compare that period with that of the global financial crisis of 2008 we see some similar hallmarks: systems that worked in normal times became destabilised when shocks hit; these shocks were global in their transmission; assets were often mispriced and overvalued; and much of the confidence that underpinned the financial system was based on assumptions and an ... (full story)