This is the seventh Banana Skins paper that the CSFI has put out - and the fifth that has been based on a fairly standard questionnaire enabling us to produce comparable survey data going back to 1996.

The main lessons of this year's survey are:

· The virtual disappearance of concern about e-commerce and about new technology in general;
· The emergence of broader concerns related to the economic cycle - notably fears about credit risk; and
· The re-emergence (post-Enron) of worries about complex financial instruments.

Business continuation/disaster recovery shot up the list of worries which was not surprising given the survey has conducted fairly soon after September 11.  The most surprising - and, at least from a London perspective, more worrying - is a new fear about the damage that can be done by inappropriate or excessive regulation.  In the five previous years of survey data regulation only made the Top Ten once.  This year (2002), both domestic and international regulation made the Top Ten list - especially about the stifling impact of over-regulation.

This Banana Skins survey is a lively and provocative read.