Will XBRL Save the U.S. Financial System?

Financial regulatory reform was recently signed into law by President Obama, as the United States continues to emerge from one of the most devastating financial crisis in its history. While reform was needed, there is much debate over how to implement a stronger regulatory framework that will underpin the financial ecosystem. The recent crisis exposed the information asymmetry between regulators and financial institutions and revealed the dangers of systemic risk. Systemic risk is the possibility of collapse to the entire financial system, not just the failure of an individual entity.