The current financial crisis cannot be attributed to a single cause, but resulted from the interaction of several simultaneously active forces. The causes can be classified into three categories: macroeconomic causes, regulatory or supervisory shortcomings and causes related to incentives or corporate control. Whereas short-term economic policy measures were geared to minimize the damage, long-term economic policy considerations focus on strengthening stabilising forces in the regulation and supervision of financial intermediaries and on improvements of their incentive systems.