Armchair Critic: The destructive dynamic of complexity and regulation

In financial services, the things we sell are very complicated and so there is a legitimate call for greater transparency. But the problem is that transparency has nothing to do with clarity and simplicity.  Transparency just opens the bonnet – if the engine underneath is a complex latticework of obscurity, we are none the wiser. The analogy, like all analogies, only stretches so far. Most of us are not that bothered if we can't understand car engines – we trust that the car will go, and if it doesn't we are pretty sure who to call. Not so with financial matters. The level of compl...