"From all the news stories of economic collapse during the 2009 financial crisis, a casual reader might conclude that at some point society might be reduced to only the most primitive trading activity. With blocked credit markets, corporations and banks could not function effectively, and sometimes the only way to find credit was between individuals, taking us back to the millennia preceding Adam Smith.

Old Ideas, New Opportunities
Not to Giles Andrews. He is not a caveman or even a Luddite. But, as managing director and co-founder of Zopa (short for the negotiating term Zone of Possible Agreement), he is stealing an old idea from our medieval trading ancestors to create a modern business that flourished as a result of the credit crisis and has been growing since."