Tell us something we don’t know. The UK financial regulator’s latest list of “priority risks” for the year ahead reads like a history rather than a forecast. Business models of some financial institutions are under strain. Really? Other banks and customers may lose confidence in those institutions and their supervisors. You don’t say! Some consumers may suffer under the burden of too much debt. Who knew? The tighter economy may increase the incidence or discovery of some types of financial crime. Surely not!

If the Financial Services Authority had outlined some of these threats a year ago, it would not now be reaping as much criticism about its failure to avert the crisis over Northern Rock, the mortgage lender whose business model was destroyed by the credit squeeze.