If individual institutions are well managed, if markets function efficiently and if the infrastructure supporting the financial system is strong, then incidents of financial stress are likely to be less frequent and the associated costs reduced. The attention paid to such issues by the various committees that meet at the BIS,11 the Financial Stability Forum and the Bretton Woods institutions attests to their importance.
Today, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is expanding public-private partnerships beyond all previous limitations and boundaries. The relationship between publicprivate partnerships and ICT can be described as symbiotic. The deployment of ICT has the power to improve the services that matter most to people’s lives: education, transportation, public safety, healthcare and social services.