The collapse of technology stocks and the demise of so many recently listed hi-tech companies has led to a lot of finger-pointing as critics ask how such companies could have made it to the market in the first place.

The buyside blames the sellside and the sellside blames the buyside. The analysts blame the media and the media blames the analysts. But at a Neuer Markt briefing last week, Rainer Riess, head of primary markets at Deutsche Börse, put forward a novel idea for improving the quality of companies approved for listing. He suggested that those running initial public offerings and equity issues might sit exams to ensure their competency.