Greedy bankers are routinely blamed for the credit crisis but one British-based poll of -- well, financiers -- spreads the blame more widely.

Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income research at Evolution Securities, wanted a more specific scapegoat and ran a poll of about 200 mostly fund managers and investors asking them to pick their credit crisis culprit. Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was the clear winner, picking up 35
percent of the votes. He has been widely criticised over the past year for low interest rate policies that helped fuel the credit boom.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton also figured quite prominently with about 10 percent of  votes, and British prime minister Gordon Brown got quite a few.

Some bankers were singled out, including Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland and Richard Fuld, the head of collapsed Lehman Brothers.

In a related article in Euroweek, Jenkins also had a unique culprit -- Bill Gates of Microsoft. None of the maths behind structured credit could be done without spreadsheets like Excel, Jenkins reckons.

So who do you think is to blame?

(Reuters photo: Kevin Lamarque)

Jerry Yang, the chief executive of Yahoo, will step down from his role as soon as the board finds a replacement, the company said.

“The company is in desperate need of change and this is clearly one way to do it,” said Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

Sandler said he expects the shares to move higher as investors speculate that Microsoft might make another play for the company, with Yang gone.

“Jerry was the roadblock for the last deal getting done,” he said.

Not everyone believes Yang’s departure bodes well for the beleaguered Internet company.

“I’ve been recommending them as a short. They should have taken the Microsoft deal, and Microsoft probably feels lucky that they didn’t… I don’t see anything there worth buying,” said Jeff Embersits, CIO of Shareholder Value Management.  “For me it’s just a business in trouble.

What impact will Yang’s departure have on Yahoo?