Close monitoring by regulators may enhance compliance with regulations and help in fine tuning the regulatory prescriptions on on-going and timely basis. In debates relating to public policy on public utilities, issues of regulation, competition and ownership were considered in an integrated manner. That used to apply to the finance industry also, before deregulation and privatisation became the preferred policies.
The bid-ask spread widened appreciably in May of this year but the deterioration in conditions was short-lived and significantly less than in late 2008. Graph 4  1  See “The Australian Foreign Exchange Market in the Recovery”, address to Westpac Forum, 10 December 2009.