While this last statement might seem at first glance to recommend a surfeit of disciplinary sources, the costs of recent financial crises indicate that efforts directed to crisis prevention have thus far been clearly inadequate. On the presumption that markets are normally efficient, market discipline should normally be relied upon.
At the same time, the supervisory and regulatory authorities must recognise that market failures do occur and should focus their efforts on how such failures might be redressed. The BIS, whether in its old role or some new one, hopes to continue to make a material contribution to these efforts to encourage financial stability.