A decade or so on from the financial crisis, the singular sense of purpose that drove a frenzy of regulatory interventions has faded.
Banks and insurers are so much safer now that regulators seem nonplussed about their resilience even as countries including the US and the UK flirt with recession, and the fallout from Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine threatens untold damage.
For financial regulators trying to recapture the relevance and adrenalin of the heady post-crisis era, crypto and climate are tantalising topics. The wild west of crypto offers regulators a platform to save hapless consumers from scams and idiocy, while protecting underlying technology that could improve all our lives. Climate offers the more legacy-minded regulators the chance to, literally, save the world.