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Most people aren't capable of handling complicated financial decisions. Financial institutions have a responsibility to handle their clients capital with care given the information advantage they have.
Deregulation over a long period created a situation where safe investing wasn't competitive anymore, and market consolidations mixed savings, insurance and more risky investment sectors in to large financial conglomerates. Derivatives and other financial instruments made markets more efficient and helped fuel growth. It's somewhat similar on a conceptual level to overclocking. The financial system became faster and more efficient but at the price of reduced stability.
Add in a bunch of irresponsible and unscrupulous individuals, who ignored even the basic safety rules of agreements like Basel, in search of ever increasing returns and you have a recipe for trouble.
I don't think it's fair for the most part to put the responsibility with individuals who get seduced by higher returns on savings or lower borrowing costs. The issue was on the representative level where legislation concerning monitoring and law enforcement in the financial sector couldn't keep up with the increased freedom of the financials (not to mention actively discouraged by lobbying).
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