So that gave financial whizzkids a motive to create complex securities like collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) based on subprime mortgages.

ECONOMIST: The unintended consequences of past financial reforms

But even with that huge incentive, it could not persuade itself that pressing on with the acquisition made commercial sense (and this from a co-operative, whose profit motive is less acute than most PLCs).

BBC: Will Co-Op pull out of banking?