The FSA's failure in banking oversight is widely put down to the prevailing consensus of the time – that the operation of "light touch" regulation with a minimum of interference was good for the City, good for the economy and therefore good for tax revenues. In fact, there was never any such thing as "light touch" regulation. The establishment of the FSA led to an unprecedented flood of rules and regulations. If all that was required to protect the public from the folly of bankers was more rules, codes of conduct and statements of principle, then the FSA would have been a champion several times over.