Second, and of more relevance for the subject of this conference, was the regulatory reform program put in motion even before the crisis had ended. This program has steadily strengthened the capital, liquidity, and risk management positions of large banks, with progressively more stringent measures applied to the most systemically important institutions. The new regulatory regime for large banks serves two important, complementary goals.
One is to ensure that the nation’s large financial institutions are sufficiently strong to continue to function effectively as intermediaries, lending to creditworthy businesses and households even in a period of substantial financial and economic stress.