Agustín Carstens, central bank governor of Mexico suggests that central banks must play a more pivotal role in order to prevent such a widespread and deep-rooted crisis hitting again.

ESMA's Steven Maijoor argues that stricter regulation will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of credit rating agencies and help restore confidence in their ratings.

As regulators push for financial stability, they need to be careful that the pendulum does not swing so far in the other direction that banks cannot exercise their core mandate of providing finance to households and industry says Michel Péretié, CEO of Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking.

To overcome its sovereign debt crisis, Europe needs to be decisive and draw on help from the private sector, and it needs strong political leadership. But most importantly, it needs to take note of the lessons learnt from past crises in developing nations says William R Rhodes. 

Passing financial regulation is complicated and fraught with political and other tensions; but it may surprise the uninitiated in its openness and transparency. Can the European institutions responsible cope with the huge raft of regulation which they are committed to implementing?

In theory, the advent of the Ucits IV Directive should lead to standardised documentation for structured products across the EU. In practice, structurers must still work with diverging national regulatory frameworks.

Regulators face a tricky task in setting appropriate capital charges for counterparty risk. Many are worried that some of the provisions in Basel III may cause as many problems as they solve.