A blueprint for banking

In the run-up to the World Bank/IMF meetings a year ago, it had still seemed possible that the financial industry could put its own house in order by codifying and implementing new best practices for risk management. But over the next six months the global financial system came close to outright collapse.

So now, as the meetings in Istanbul unfold, government policymakers and regulators around the world are striving to agree new rules to make the financial system safer.