On February 11, 2009 the Treasury Select Committee interviewed five senior practitioners of the banking industry. This followed on after several days of interviews with similar figures from other banks, all active in the UK.
The evidence was interesting as it highlighted how little science there is in the ways risks and exposures are managed.
Complex risks demand complex solutions, or so we are told, not least by those selling complex solutions. The dilemma is, the complex solution is no easier to understand than the complex problem.
If quantum mathematics is used to model quantum chromodynamics, are we any more likely to understand the model than we are the reality?