Our mistakes advanced 'credit tsunami' - Greenspan

Speaking to US Congress yesterday, the man who spent 18 years at the helm of US monetary policy conceded he was "partially” wrong in not regulating certain securities – such as credit default swaps. Greenspan says although he had concerns over the under-pricing of risk in 2005, the current crisis turned out to be much broader than he could have imagined. “As I wrote last March: those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity, myself especially are in a state of shocked disbelief,” he says. “Such counterparty surveillance is a ce...