We have seen an astonishingly large number of new listings in recent years. Oversight of financial markets and recent institutional and regulatory developments Let me now turn to the issue of the oversight of financial markets and recent institutional and regulatory developments. The internationalisation of markets is posing new challenges for supervision.
The new challenges posed by recent market developments come mainly from two sources, technological advances and the increased competition and market integration triggered by the introduction of the euro. Until the 1980s, financial activity was conducted within heterogeneous frameworks. Each financial system was characterised by a different currency, legislation and  BIS Review 80/2001  3  supervisory structure.