Twenty-first century supervision

Much of the regulation governing banks was developed in the last century. But it is time to stop trying to supervise twenty-first century financial institutions with twentieth century oversight tools, argues David Rowe

Some historians refer to the ‘short’ twentieth century. Their argument is that the real cultural and political break with the nineteenth century did not occur until August 1914 and the outbreak of the First World War. Similarly, it is argued this era effectively ended in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in eastern Europe. It seems to me the idea of the short twentieth century also has relevance for current deliberations concerning regulatory reform and the