Professor Niamh Hardiman:

With instruments on every front, I think. Formal regulatory regimes are terribly important and so also are codes of conduct by professional bodies so that banks do self-regulation and self-monitoring.

In so far as regulators get captured by those whom they were supposed to regulate, accountability to Parliament can help as well as scrutiny, opening things to question and assessing how well the regulators are doing. Civil society bodies have a role in this as well. I am referring to non-governmental organisations and civil society groups that can exercise an adequacy role and watchdog role which would alert us all to problems or shortcomings. Journalism and journalists can also play a part in this by, for example, uncovering stories that are unsavoury, need more investigation or show us where our institutions or practices are failing. It is all about democratic accountability and legitimacy that has many strands which I have tried to elaborate.