There is a growing consensus that financial institutions should be more adequately capitalised, that the pro-cyclical bias of the present combination of accounting and prudential rules should be reduced, and that liquidity should be strengthened.

But these are general objectives. They now have to be translated into appropriate reforms. In this respect two issues loom high on the agenda: how to design a safer system that would avoid the major weaknesses of the recent past; and how to make sure that the new measures are consistently implemented worldwide.