It would be the same for the best accounting concept or for the most creative and imaginative functioning of securities markets. This sense of the necessity of a global systemic “optimisation” on top of the “sub-optimisation” of each particular subcomponent is a very significant contribution of the Financial Stability Forum, even if a lot remains to be done in effective implementation. 3.
Crisis prevention  Having talked about changes to the institutional set-up, I would like to discuss crisis prevention, which is a key area for all reform efforts. Given that crises are costly both for the countries concerned and for the international system, all emphasis must be placed on learning the lessons of the past and implementing those lessons rigorously.