Britain's beleaguered banks are the "authors of their misfortune", with the bankers themselves having made "an astonishing mess" of the financial system, according to the powerful cross-party Treasury Select Committee of MPs. The MPs said there was "an unresolved inconsistency between... bankers' assurances that they are increasing their lending and, on the other hand, the widespread complaints of business that credit is difficult to obtain and increasingly expensive". The authorities are also criticised for failing to anticipate the scale of the crisis, and for their weakness in overseeing the banks now. "In hindsight, there were clear signs of an impending financial crisis since the summer of 2007. We question whether more analysis should have been instituted by the regulators earlier to clarify the nature and value of assets on which banks were relying," the report states. adding: "This was a failure not only within individual banks but also of the supervisory system designed to protect the public from systemic risk." The problems arising from the Lloyds takeover of HBOS are put down to the banks' executives.