The increased awareness of the wide-ranging possibilities offered by new technologies illustrated that a lot could be gained through the removal of distortions in competition, directly linked to excessive regulation or intrusion from the Government. In combination, these two evolutions contributed to the emergence of a more open, competitive and globalised financial market, which obviously improves efficiency in the world economy.
The transition, however, has not been a smooth one. It was not easy for the authorities who had to cope with the more frequent arbitrages operated by market participants between the various currencies and financial instruments or even between different legal, regulatory or tax regimes.