Complexity to blame for credit crunch, says Bank for International Settlements

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has blamed the credit crisis on a failure by banks to understand the risks involved in complex credit risk transfer structures set up earlier this decade.

In a report published last month, the BIS said the decision by some banks to take off-balance-sheet structures back on to their balance sheets, without a prior commitment to do so, "may reflect reputation concerns".

Any decision to assume previously transferred risk raises questions about the true