Their effects are evident across all continents and the bout of instability which ensued has again brought to the fore issues like confidence, transparency in private sector operations, the role of the state, profits and bonus payments, as well as the responsibility to educate financial services consumers.
While this last statement might seem at first glance to recommend a surfeit of disciplinary sources, the costs of recent financial crises indicate that efforts directed to crisis prevention have thus far been clearly inadequate. On the presumption that markets are normally efficient, market discipline should normally be relied upon.