But this, of course, is not the whole story.
There were a number of other factors and mechanisms that played a role in the propagation and amplification of the market turmoil which neither we, nor other institutions, foresaw, at least not fully, notably: (i) the way various intertwined vulnerabilities would eventually combine; (ii) the speed and intensity with which tensions in one specific segment of the credit market in one country could spread so extensively to other markets and countries; (iii) the size of banks’ off-balance sheet exposures to the US sub-prime related structured finance products; (iv) the activities, features and implications of new financial entities – conduits and other structured investment vehicles – that have been sponsored by banks and linked to them by liquidity commitments.