The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.For the past 20 or so years, the global financial community has tried to craft a common minimum regulatory capital standard for banks. The result has been a complicated framework that is not enforced consistently, is constantly under revision, and failed to contain contagion during the 2008 market meltdown. The time is right to consider whether this path continues to make sense.