Avoiding financial crises is, of course, the whole purpose of the exercise. BIS Review 74/2004  1  The banks play an exceptional, central role in society. This is the background to the extensive regulation of banking activities. One sometimes hears the remark that regulation by the authorities is a special burden imposed on the banks.
This leads to the argument for uniform international regulations, to ensure a level playing field. This is the purpose of the Basel framework. Often the banks also point out that the authorities should remember that banks are business enterprises that need some scope for manoeuvre in order to be competitive.