With the benefit of hindsight, it would not perhaps be too unfair to say that the initial policy response to the crisis was timid and to some extent reluctant. Soon however, in the face of such unprecedented challenges, governments, national central banks, international financial institutions and supervisory and regulatory authorities around the globe all demonstrated a remarkable unity of purpose.
The extraordinary magnitude of the crisis led to the acceptance that extraordinary measures were needed, if a repeat of the 1930s was to be averted.