Increased levels of regulation and compliance are the new
realities facing financial institutions in the post financial
crisis world. This is of course necessary and inevitable to ensure
the public interest is protected given past failures. Indeed,
during his speech to the European Insurance Forum last year,
Matthew Elderfield reminded us that not so long ago a "now
notorious banker" complained about regulation saying:
"It's time to shout stop: the tide of regulation has gone
far enough."
That said, in the same speech Elderfield conceded that debates
about regulation are healthy and reasonable, once they are
transparent and grounded in specifics. With that in mind, we should
now consider recommencing a measured and balanced dialogue about
what is necessary to achieve appropriate levels of regulation
post-financial crisis. It should not be seen as a contradiction to
emphasise the importance of properly regulating our financial
sector to protect the common good, while
