ACTIVITY OVERVIEW "Never waste a crisis. It can be turned to joyful transformation" (Rahm Emanuel, US President Barack Obama's White House Chief of Staff) The global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008 led to significant criticism of the financial sector and the regulatory authorities that monitor it. In the aftermath of the GFC, in response to the catastrophic scale of regulatory failure, from mid-2009, national and international bodies and governments were beginning to release information about planned regulatory responses that would help address issues emerging from and incorporate lessons learnt from the crisis. After all the pain bank failures caused during and after the global financial crisis, making financial institutions safer and more resilient is one of the top goals of regulators around the world. This is a fine balancing act as regulators are mindful that regulation entails costs and constrains the activities and innovations of financial institutions. It is often a case of too much or too little regulation In this final group written activity, students are encouraged to explore the different aspects of financial market regulation by identifying and critically assessing the proposed reforms made by key national and international regulatory authorities in response to the GFC in order to achieve global financial stability TASK DESCRIPTION In groups you are required to briefly discuss and provide a written summary of your group discussion for one of the following sub-topics on regulation. Identify and critically assess the planned regulatory responses in the aftermaths of the GFC made by the following authorities: The Australian monetary authorities (RBA, APRA and ASIC) The Bank for International Settlement (BIS) The US Federal Reserve and the US Department of Treasury The following questions can be used as guiding questions to prepare your written task. 1. Why does the financial sector need regulation? What are the main objectives of regulation