The International Monetary Fund is not known for random assaults on the financial establishment.

This makes the results of a new IMF study - A Fistfull of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis -  all the more compelling. Large US banks that spend heavily on lobbying are more likely to engage in high-risk lending, and their shares perform less well. The UK's Guardian newspaper notes that finance sector lobbying outstripped all other sectors.

It is 8 days until the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission begin to take testimony from top bankers. Their lobbying activities should provide one of the core, and still current, seams of questioning.

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