It is almost 20 years since the Big Bang liberated the finance sector by sweeping away what were then considered outdated regulations. Since then, regulation - both at national and at international levels - has slowly crept back and threatens to create a mountain of bureaucracy.

A succession of scandals across the world from the Barings bank debacle to Enron and Worldcom have caused the regulatory pendulum to swing towards tighter rules. The growing list of rules includes the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Basel II risk management rules for financial institutions and the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).