The development of regulatory agencies has lagged badly behind the development of financial markets. They are inadequate for the task they are called upon to perform. Indeed they have become part of the problem. When a country turns to the IMF, the IMF imposes strict conditions on the country concerned but it does not permit that country to impose conditions on it creditors. The austerity imposed on the debtor countries helps them to meet their obligations but it has created a moral hazard because the lenders have come to expect that in case of trouble they will be bailed out.
Moral hazard is just another name for the asymmetric treatment of lenders and borrowers.
This was clearly demonstrated in the course of the current crisis. When the crisis started to threaten markets at the center of the system, the Federal Reserve immediately lowered interest rates. In defense of the IMF it must be pointed out that their primary mission is to preserve the stability of the international financial system. Faced with a currency crisis, an external debt problem, and an internal banking crisis at the same time, they must tackle the external problem first. Only after the balance of payments has improved, can they allow interest rates to be eased, but by then the damage is done.