Farewell, Tarp, we hardly knew ye. The $700bn troubled asset relief programme will now not buy up home loans or mortgage-backed paper – except, perhaps, in a focused fashion. Instead, the authorities are again changing tack, broadening the scope of their hastily constructed capital purchase scheme, targeting consumer credit by the ungumming of securitisation markets and aiming to reduce home foreclosures.

After a brief period of what looked like focus, ad hoc policymaking is again the order of the day – with two of the seven Tarp policy teams losing their remit. Enabling non-bank financial institutions to apply for an injection of favourably priced funds was probably inevitable. It should at least save time – and lawyers’ fees – for those insurers, say, or other credit providers previously attempting to squeeze themselves through a loophole. The quid pro quo for taking stakes in non federally regulated companies is tying purchases to private capital investments.