How much did shareholders’ failure to hold bank board directors to account contribute to the damage banks did to themselves and the economy? Fund managers have done a little breast-beating about the part they played, but mostly blame regulators – and banks.

The government-backed review of corporate governance in banks and other financial companies by Sir David Walker, published last week, clearly sees shareholders as part of the problem – and of the solution. But its recommendations raise fundamental questions about the job fund managers are employed to do.