Professor Eamonn Walsh:

There was very little in the way of requirements. There was a standard up until 2007 known as IAS 30, which dealt with bank disclosures in a general sense about concentrations, but largely the guidance was so woolly that I do not believe one could find anybody who was not in compliance with the standard. In other words, what some regulators did, for example, in New Zealand, was put in additional interpretations of what they had said banks should be disclosing under IAS 30, but in the absence of such additional guidance, it is fair to say there was no requirement to make extensive disclosures. Nevertheless, there is absolutely nothing to prevent any financial institution from engaging in additional disclosure. As a financial institution is not required not to disclose, a bank could have engaged in significant additional disclosure and a financial regulator could have given guidance to a bank that additional disclosures should be made in the published financial statements.