They certainly played a central role in the Asian financial crises of the late 1990s, and financial-sector reform was a key ingredient in the IMF programs that these countries entered. Though significant progress has been made in this regard, much remains to be done. In particular, sometimes governmental initiatives have been launched in areas such banking reform or corporate governance without sufficient followup.
Once more stable financial-market 6  BIS Review 102/2001  conditions have returned, the hard work of implementing financial-sector reform has sometimes slackened. However, to the extent that significant financial-sector weaknesses remain, so too does the potential for future crises.