Unlike the S.E.C., which instinctively looks for more disclosure and more openness, bank regulators are inclined to secrecy, particularly in times of stress.
Mr. Zoellick says the bank's newfound openness is part of a push to embrace competition, both internally and externally, as it tries to reduce poverty and foster economic development.
Muller noted that Publish What You Fund ranked the Bank highly on openness, but it wants to do better, and has therefore committed to publishing all research documents online, with only a few held back for confidentiality reasons.
A group of leading international economists has concluded that while the Federal Reserve has changed "dramatically" since 1993 under Alan Greenspan, it still lags behind other major central banks in the openness of its operations.
And it was to avoid the historic British problem - the violence of the repeated boom and bust cycles of the past - that we established the new monetary framework based on consistent rules - the symmetrical inflation target; settled well understood procedures - Bank independence; and openness and transparency.
These economic incentives, pent-up consumer appetites for better rates and the increasing openness to banking with multiple institutions will propel online banks further into the mainstream.
At the World Bank IMF annual meeting in Tokyo this month, Jim Yong Kim promised to bring in an era of reformsaying: "While I'm excited by how much the bank has changed around openness and results and accountability, I believe the bank can go further".
The SEC also unveiled proposed new rules for share analysts: no clear separation between research and other banking services, but more openness and disclosure.
While the organization has been working since 1996 to encourage greater openness in banking, he said, "there is a new atmosphere," partly because the financial crisis has helped to focus the attention of finance officials in the United States, Germany, Britain and France, who were eager to crack down on tax evaders to help replenish government coffers.
Even secret services and Swiss banks now nod towards openness.
