There is a lot of talk about bank nationalisation. But the word is used in two different senses. Sometimes people mean state ownership. Government has, explicitly or implicitly, the primary equity interest in the future performance of banks.

In this sense, government now owns many large banks. Not just institutions such as Northern Rock or Anglo Irish Bank, in which it is the only shareholder. For other banks, the combination of capital provision, insurance and guarantees means that most future losses, and a significant though smaller part of future profits, will be assumed by the public. At Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis, Lloyds and Citigroup, the government holds a dominant equity interest, whether or not it owns a majority of the ordinary shares. Perhaps government is the substantive owner of Bank of Ireland, Barclays and Deutsche Bank: these organisations could not trade as they do today in the absence of market expectation of government support.