Central bankers have blamed a lack of top-level oversight by banks and regulators for contributing to the recent credit crisis, arguing that some nations' watchdogs do not know what questions to ask trading desks and that technical understanding of the markets exists only at junior levels.

Defending the role of the central banks, Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, highlighted the fact that the ECB had issued clear warnings on underpricing of risks in some segments of the financial markets in early 2007.