Several people have commented helpfully on earlier versions of the text. I am particularly grateful to Pierre-Olivier Bouée, Pierre Cailleteau, Duncan Campbell-Smith, Michael Foot, David Green, Keishi Hotsuki, Emmanuel Roman, Andrew Turnbull and Maria Zhivitskaya, though none of them can be held responsible for the conclusions. My thinking has also been influenced by several cohorts of challenging students in my courses on financial regulation and central banking in the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po, Paris.