Financial communication used to be relatively straightforward. It involved the communication from the users of capital – public and private companies – to the providers of capital – the equity and debt markets. The communication was formal and structured and was between people with similar knowledge bases.

Like much else over the past two years, all that has changed. The financial crisis has meant that the dialogue between capital providers and capital users is no longer a closed conversation. The problems of the banks had a huge impact on many different organisations and demonstrated the huge externalities involved. So there is a much greater and legitimate interest in what financial institutions say and how they say it.