One of the world's leading banking executives has called on world leaders to use next month's Group of 20 summit to help prevent economic imbalances by giving regulators more control of bank lending during boom times.
Stephen Green, chief executive of HSBC, also said some accounting regulations for banks needed urgent review because they made banks' balance sheets more volatile during periods of financial distress.
Speaking to the Financial Times during a visit yesterday to Hong Kong, Mr Green called on politicians to introduce counter-cyclical demand management and employ additional policies to influence the supply of credit in good and bad times.