This means that, faced with negative shocks, the central bank would have a smaller margin to reduce rates, so recessions might last longer and inflation would recover more slowly. True, faced with the lower bound, the central bank could use non-standard measures more often.
The fair practices code adopted by banks / financial institutions is mostly unilateral in nature. Hence, the enforceability of fair practices is more in breach than in practice. With growing complexities of the financial transactions and financial markets, there is need to clearly define the role and responsibility of financial services providers, especially in relation to consumer protection.