Banks themselves have created many of the new techniques to improve their risk management and internal economic capital measures in order to be more effective competitors and to control and manage their losses. By more clearly defining risk exposures and identifying the causes of and controls for their losses, bank management can more effectively integrate decisions about risk-taking into their strategic and tactical decisionmaking.
Yet there were also other factors which, had it not been for the determination of those committed to EMU, could have significantly delayed or even derailed the whole process. Of these, the EMS crisis of 1992-93 immediately springs to mind.