Limiting systemic risks, new principles for regulation

Stephany Griffith-Jones and Stefano Pagliari point out, that containing “systemic risk” is one of the most important rationales for regulating financial markets. Our understanding of the sources of systemic risk has repeatedly been challenged by major episodes of financial instability. The crisis that started in the summer of 2007 has been no exception. They discuss how the latest global financial crisis urges analysts and regulators to rethink the origin of systemic risk beyond a narrow focus on the banking sector, beyond the “too big to fail problem”, and beyond a narrow micro-prudential focus. They focus on two regulatory principles: comprehensiveness and countercyclicality.