Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs, faced nearly all of the questions at yesterday’s Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing despite the presence of three other Wall Street executives. All four admitted to “mistakes”, none apologised, but two of them did thank taxpayers.

Last year, the US Congress named a 10-member commission to investigate the causes of the financial crisis, make recommendations for change and refer any wrongdoing to the appropriate authorities.