BIS Review 131/2010  1  Second, the sharp contraction of economic activity after the burst of the bubble in Japan occurred when interbank funding markets became destabilized. That decline, however, was much smaller than those in many countries, including Japan, after the failure of Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2008.
What progress has been made and what challenges do we face? Now, where do we currently stand in terms of setting and implementing standards? As you are well aware, there are a number of ongoing international initiatives aimed at improving the information frameworks on which policy decisions are based.