For the first time in a generation, the world's most powerful regulators of financial markets - whether around Wall Street or Threadneedle Street - have the undivided attention of the most powerful men in finance. How this resurgent authority will be used is hanging in the air. Will regulators force long-overdue changes to the fundamental ways Wall Street does business or just dab lightly around the edges?

There is no question that since the US Treasury, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Federal Reserve Board and Securities and Exchange Commission joined together to push the nearly bankrupt Bear Stearns into the arms of JPMorgan Chase, Wall Street has operated under new rules. It is no coincidence financial institutions have raised about $160bn (£81bn) of new capital since the crisis began as Tim Geithner, president of the New York Fed, has been an outspoken advocate of it.