The role of mathematics in the City came under the spotlightin March with the publication of the Turner Review: A regu-latory response to the global banking crisis. The report,written by Lord Turner, chairman of the UK Financial ServicesAuthority, laid some of the blame for banks' excessive risk-takingon "misplaced reliance on sophisticated maths". He wrote, "Thevery complexity of the mathematics used to measure and managerisk, moreover, made it increasingly difficult for top managementand boards to assess and exercise judgement over the risks beingtaken." However, an editorial in the Financial Times was quick topoint out that "the problem was not the maths itself but the waythe banks used it. Contrary to Lord Turner's assertion, the banks'sums were not sophisticated enough."
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