The question to ask advanced economies is: can the measures taken in the last few months minimise the risk of a relapse? Substantive work has been done in recent months; it has been witnessed by the emerging markets which now belong to fora such as the G20 and the Financial Stability Board. However, progress at high level is one thing.
The hard work of implementation – the devil in the details – is another. Experience has shown that internationally agreed standards, such as Basel II, are not always uniformly implemented in all the signatory countries. Furthermore, pressure from the financial industry to minimise regulatory changes in advanced economies is mounting by the day.