ABSTRACT
Introduction Policymakers, private sector and non-governmental actors alike concur that the creation of an eective, ecient, stable and secure nancial services sector is essential for a prosperous economy. There remain, however, disagreements on the best way by which to attain this broad policy objective of a thriving yet safe nancial system. Policy preferences range from those that prefer pro-active state intervention and regulation to those that favor free market mechanisms, and minimal regulation … and everything in between. The 2007-8 nancial crisis highlighted again this substantive division in preferences. The crisis, just as importantly, also showed the major cost of policy failure in this eld.
