I am a data junkie and it has been tremendously enjoyable working with our Data and Stats team to enhance understanding and reporting on the economy and financial sector. We have doubled supervisory capacity, placed much of it closer to regulated entities in Auckland, and increased the weight on positive assurance and verification; less ‘tell us everything’s ok’, and more ‘show us’.
The rapid spread of the financial crisis has also served as a lesson for supervisors. It has shown that the root of the problems was not linked to any specific difficulties faced by individual institutions but, rather, to the gradual build-up of common risks within the system.