Transparency and investment banking are not words that are often found in the same sentence. Which is why it is all the more disappointing that, when faced with an opportunity last week to shine some much-needed light into the opaque world of investment banking fees, the Office of Fair Trading chose instead to pass the torch to someone else.

After six months of investigating underwriting fees on rights issues, the OFT concluded that while the financial crisis and the market was "essentially uncompetitive", it was up to shareholders and companies to work harder to reach a "more cost-effective outcome".