Appreciating diversity: Regulatory reform and banking practices in the developed and developing worlds

The homogenisation of finance that has dramatically increased the proclivity to instability and crisis is directly related to the very structure of regulations that have discouraged different types of institutions from emerging and/or and surviving. In developing countries they have the further limitation of preventing the necessary variation of financial institutions that is required for financing development and enlarging the spread of and access to institutional finance. The rules that apply to commercial banks or investment banks cannot and should not be applied to development banks, savings banks or co-operative banks. Diversity in the financial system can and should be encouraged at several levels and through several means.