TITLE: Compact non-nuclear operators
QUESTION [5 upvotes]: I am not sure if this question makes sense, or if it is trivial,  but does there exists an infinite dimensional Banach space (necessarily without the approximation property) such that no compact, non-nuclear operator is the norm limit of finite rank operators?

REPLY [11 votes]: Pisier constructed a Banach space such that the operator norm is equivalent to the nuclear norm on the finite rank operators.  Consequently, no compact non nuclear operator on his space is the norm limit of finite rank operators.  However, it is open whether there exists a compact non nuclear operator on his space!
Pisier, Gilles Counterexamples to a conjecture of Grothendieck. Acta Math. 151 (1983), no. 3-4, 181–208.