In his third book on the the history of the City of London, Philip Augar, the former chief executive of Schroder Securities, gives a vivid and cogent account of how the financial crisis of the past two years has its roots in the explosive growth in a “golden decade” from 1997 to 2007. Here he discusses the main themes of his new book, Chasing Alpha, with Financial News

Q. Lord Turner, chairman of the FSA, has described light-touch regulation as the "intellectual and philosophical failure" of the Anglo-Saxon approach to markets. Do you see any signs that governments and regulators have accepted that the system and the ideology on which it has been based is in need of fundamental reform?