Four years ago, manifest deficiencies in capital adequacy, liquidity buffers and risk management led to the collapse of some of the most storied names in finance and triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
The complete loss of confidence in private finance – your membership – could only be arrested by the provision of comprehensive backstops by the richest economies in the world. With about $ trillion in output and almost 28 million jobs lost in the ensuing recession, the case for reform was clear then and remains so today. Let me now turn to your issues.