Professor Michael Ben Gad, head of the department of Economics, discusses the role of finance houses and banks in distributing resources over time, and presents his ideas on the causes of the financial boom and subsequent crisis.

Dr Anastasia Nesvetailova presents her work on the shadow banking system and its role in causing the financial crisis of 2007, which was fuelled by the concept of the illusion of liquidity which she developed in her 2010 book Financial Alchemy in Crisis.

Professor Keith Pilbeam of the Department of Economics discusses banks' incentives to lend to greater numbers of borrowers before the financial crisis, and the lack of repercussions they have faced since the credit crunch.

Steve Schiferres, Marjorie Dean Professor of Financial Journalism at City University, discusses the paradox of reform in the financial sector following the financial crisis, arguing that banks have emerged from the crisis with more power than previously.