Diagnoses of the causes of the crisis generally suggest that neither regulators nor top managements of large, global financial institutions had a complete picture of the product offerings and portfolio choices that ultimately led to the catastrophe. Of course, transparency has always been a central pillar of financial regulation, but clearly, the conventional notion simply did not address many new developments in financial activity.
Effective governance from the top provides comfort to investors that their interests are of critical importance. There are clear standards for the ring-fencing of clients’ money. There have also been a number of improvements in the regulations relating to control frameworks in general, and risk management practices in particular. The rules relating to public disclosure and transparency have been continually and significantly improved.