If some of the accusations about pre-2007 building society regulation made by a former supervisor ring true, it may be because you think you’ve already heard them – from the regulator itself.

When it comes to retrospective criticism of its performance, the Financial Services Authority has been in the front line of the flagellators. As Lord Turner, the watchdog’s chairman, acknowledged Friday in his response to the LibDem’s Vince Cable, the FSA used to rely on lenders’ monitoring systems and controls. It assumed senior management was best-placed to set overall strategy. Since the Northern Rock débacle, it has radically changed its supervisory approach.