THE report on the Allied Group has demonstrated once again the weaknesses in international banking supervision.
It has shown how easy it is to hide behind a legal system deliberately aimed at providing a level of secrecy which is not available in other well-developed financial centres.
Supervisors elsewhere have been alerted by the lessons they learned from the strange animal called Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
The intricacy of transactions done across wide geographical areas, taking advantage of the loopholes in the supervision of banks with international operations, are still fresh in people's memories.
The use of agents registered in far-away places as a conduit for the improper transmission of funds continues to cause alarm in the banking community.
Banking supervisors continue to play a losing game and a reactive role. Sometimes, no one realises the loophole exists until the horse and cart has driven through it.
The world of banking is moving rapidly, both vertically and horizontally. The complexities of banking products and their quick evolution have given supervisors enough headaches.
