Lawyers, for instance, can be disbarred, and complaints against them can become matters of public record. That is added incentive to maintain the skills, character, and other qualifications required to become (and remain) a member of the bar. And, critically, professions do not stop improving. Lawyers continue—I hope—to seek a more just society. Doctors, a healthier one. I do not mean to call for the equivalent of the legal bar for bankers—although it might not be a bad idea. But there are elements of professions that could be useful. For example, forums like this one facilitate information sharing and promote a sense of community. A code of professional conduct is another example. Again, I refer you to the work of the Banking Standards Board, 5/7  BIS central bankers' speeches  which has developed a “Statement of Principles for Strengthening Professionalism.” Like Bill Dudley, I have argued that banking would benefit from a misconduct database. 15 Records of employee misconduct would be available to future employers to combat the so-called “rolling bad apple” phenomenon. Hopefully this would encourage more careful choices by bankers in the same way that the risk of disbarment prompts lawyers to think about the long-term consequences of their decisions. None of these ideas is a magic bullet. But they may be helpful as you consider how the first line of defense and the financial services industry develop as a profession. Conclusion: professional courage Let me end with one final thought on professionalism.

If we believe the above theories, and assume that regulations impose ultimately a cost on the consumer or taxpayer, it may be in the public interest to remove regulations and allow greater competition. This is the primary driving force behind current market deregulation policies prevalent in OECD markets. A recent example of the deregulation drive to “make markets work better” is the report of the Australian Financial System Inquiry (Wallis Report), whose recommendations seek to:create a flexible regulatory structure which will be more responsive to the forces for change operating on the financial system; clarify regulatory goals; increase the accountability of the agencies charged with meeting those goals; ensure that the regulation of similar financial products be more consistent and promote competition by improving comparability; introduce greater competitive neutrality across the financial system; establish more contestable, efficient and fair financial markets, resulting in reduced costs to consumers; provide more effective regulation for financial conglomerates which will also facilitate competition and efficiency; and facilitate the international competitiveness of the Australian financial system. On the other hand, a market without regulation also does not work. Free banking and frontier capitalism results in control by the Mafia, with huge losses inflicted on the innocent and unwary. The public interest theory argues that regulation is an attempt to correct for market failures, such as monopoly, externalities and lack of information. For example, the social cost of the failure of a financial institution may be much higher than the private cost to the institution itself.