4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Graph 3  •  Behaviour in the post-crisis period in most economies is consistent with a period of private sector financial consolidation. Ratios of credit or banking assets to GDP have tended to stabilise or decline, particularly in the countries where they had previously been highest.
•  The combination of regulatory and private sector responses around the world seems likely to result in reduced financial risk-taking in the foreseeable future. Regulators are taking much-needed action to ensure that risks are better managed, and the appetite for financial risk in the household and business sectors now is clearly much less than it was.