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We don't know for sure what happened when MSPs looking into the future of the Scottish financial sector met the chiefs of the regulators on Tuesday but a look through the keyholes gives some insights.

Holyrood's economy committee had separate meetings with Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, Treasury minister Lord Myners, and Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, on the day his chief executive, Hector Sants, was rattling the City with news of his departure.

The issue raised by that announcement was also in the discussions - plans by Conservatives to abolish the FSA and wrap its function into the Bank of England.

MSPs and regulators talked of the choice between splitting up banks to reduce risk, as favoured by Mervyn King and President Obama, and boosting the regulatory and capital requirements, as preferred by the Labour Government.

They talked also of the model, apparently being pursued by Santander, of isolating units of an international bank into distinct national entities, thus protecting the whole from failure of one part.

The message from the MSPs was to beware of regulatory change when there's a lot more to the financial sector than the Square Mile of the City of London.

Indeed, they put to les grands fromages on London's regulatory cheeseboard one observation made during their hearings: that perhaps the big Scottish banks might not have gone quite so pear-shaped if the regulator had more of a presence in Scotland.

One Scottish-based agent for the Bank of England, whose job it is to act as a listening post, may not be sufficient.

What the MSPs did not secure was a promise that's going to change. The response was "lukewarm".

But committee convener Iain Smith hopes that, at least, Scotland won't get forgotten in this year's big, international power play around bank and regulatory reform.

Next stop, on Wednesday morning, is to hear from finance secretary John Swinney. What is his vision for Scottish finance?

What, for instance, does he want to see become of Lloyds TSB Scotland, being forced to split from its Lloyds Banking Group parent under diktat of the European Commission?

There's been talk of a Scottish-based purchase, but not much more than that. Perhaps John Swinney can tell fellow MSPs if there's going to be action as well.