Canniness, the quality that made Scottish financial institutions the most trusted in the world, is once again the watchword for banking.

Canniness, the quality that made Scottish financial institutions the most trusted in the world, is once again the watchword for banking. It didn't pass the lips of the Prime Minister or the Chancellor in the House of Commons, or in the interviews they gave to explain the £37bn cash injection for the Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB. Instead they focused on the need for trust and confidence in the banking system, although they are dependent on a solid financial base and good practice. On the day that saw RBS - Scotland's leading company, which had revelled in establishing an international headquarters in Edinburgh - 60% owned by the taxpayer, and the already humbled Bank of Scotland further humiliated by a government stake of 44% in the proposed Lloyds TSB/HBOS, Scotland even more than the rest of the UK was rueing the years of profligacy based on irresponsible lending.

Taxpayers and the banks' customers have been expressing considerable anger that, only a year after a series of gargantuan profits, these banks should have to tap the public purse to keep the system afloat. The government's conditions - no bonuses for directors this year; future rewards to be in shares; government nominees on the boards with a duty to safeguard the interests of the taxpayer - are the least that is required. The removal of those who presided over the cavalier years of unsecured lending (and pocketed seven-figure bonuses) is not an act of revenge but a necessary reckoning: they failed to fulfil the responsibility of their office. Gordon Brown speaks of ending the reward of failure, but the public wants a new transparency. While the Conservatives were quick to say that taxpayers' money should not be siphoned into bankers' bonuses, it was the free-market economy pursued under their governance which led to the ethos that valued profit above sustainability. In turn, New Labour, keen to be regarded as a friend of business, continued the feather-light regulation that has been found so catastrophically inadequate. This chapter of 21st-century economic history may well become an example of the perils of the free market, but the lesson for the future will be in the effectiveness of the remedy.

In response to the global nature of the source of the problem, a response of unprecedented international dimensions is being orchestrated. European finance ministers are following the "British model", with five of the 15 Eurozone countries announcing stabilisation measures, in accordance with the motto voiced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that "trust is the currency everybody wants to pay with". Rising stock-market prices across the world suggest the initial reaction was increased confidence, although RBS and HBOS shares continued to fall as investors recognised that their dividends would be reduced.

Availability of lending is the oil that gets the wheels of commerce turning, and part of the deal is that loans to homeowners and small businesses should return to 2007 levels. While the current stasis must be unlocked, it should be remembered that 2007 saw the peak of unsustainable mortgage lending which fuelled house-price inflation. The aim should be to provide loans to those judged able to repay them. Canniness is not the most obviously attractive quality in a politician, but Mr Brown and Mr Darling must demonstrate from now on that it amounts to more than a quick fix. A new financial world order is required. Only time will tell whether the autumn of 2008 was its dawn.