With the West’s financial collapse in 2008, Asia’s banking systems are in search of a new regulatory model. They are keen that their financial sectors should not dominate the real economy. 

The convergence of regulatory, government and economic forces on the financial sector is unprecedented. If much of the detail has yet to be determined and substantive differences between national authorities still exist, one thing that is certain is that the financial services industry will look very different in a few years' time.

Recent events show that the desire to put in place a global recovery and resolution regime to prevent the kind of government intervention that was required during the financial crisis is very much a work in progress. For banks it requires a tremendous amount of work and unprecedented transparency about their operations. For national regulators, it means forging agreements that bring together disparate insolvency regimes.

Few will deny that bank boards were as culpable as their senior management in failing to spot the dangerous levels of risk building within the banks in the lead-up to the financial crisis. There is clear recognition that things need to change. But changing risk structures, and more importantly, risk cultures, is easier said than done.

The combined and cumulative effects of new regulations and a hostile market environment means banks are fighting to build both capital and liquidity. Many questions remain about banks' ability to do both, and the effects of doing either on economic growth.

As regulators seek to push more business onto exchanges and into central clearing, and to make derivatives and other markets more transparent and more resilient, the reform of the securities industry is well under way. What will regulations mean for businesses in practice?

Some UK bankers are warning that ring-fencing deposits in the largest banks will drive up capital and funding costs. However, there are those, including some major investors, who claim that the opposite may turn out to be true.

New regulations, specifically the push towards central counterparty clearing, are having a huge impact on banks' over-the-counter foreign exchange operations. As the banking sector undergoes significant changes, what will this mean for banks' organisational structures and the foreign exchange market?

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?