Optimale Regulierung bleibt eine Herausforderung!: Anmerkungen zur aktuellen Debatte um die Finanzsektorreformen

The challenge of perfect regulation! Comments to the debate on reforms of the financial sector. In the light of the recent financial crisis the question was raised, if there is any chance of regulation at all to help prevent future crises. As lessons learned from the financial crisis regulators have already adopted numerous measures that aim to enhance financial regulation. Most prominent is the reform of the well-known Basel II soon to be Basel III framework. The following paper takes a closer look on the most important measures against the background of the economic aspects of financial intermediation. The overall focus of this paper is the question if the reform of Basel II can improve the regulatory environment. This includes an analysis of how the changes in financial regulation will affect financial institutions. As a result the paper will show that most of the discussed and adopted measures actually lead to greater regulatory effectiveness. Nevertheless, the key factor for more effective financial regulation is a deep knowledge with regard to financial institutions and their business models. Only a thourough understanding of each individual bank and the system as a whole puts the regulator in the position to assess risks which might lead to the next financial crisis and to react appropriately.