An oversight oversight

A US Committee of Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the collapse of Lehman Brothers found the dealer's finance and risk management committee met only twice in 2006 and 2007. How should banks be rethinking the composition and role of their risk committees in the wake of Lehman? Duncan Wood reports

During 2006, when Lehman Brothers posted record profits of $4.05 billion, board members convened just two meetings of the firm's finance and risk committee. A year later, as credit markets froze and the bank sailed towards oblivion, the risk committee again met only twice. It is not possible to say how many times the committee would have got together in 2008 because the firm is now bankrupt. Perhaps they had been hoping to squeeze another meeting into the calendar.

The committee's meeting