Abstract. The current financial crisis marked the end of a period characterized by a profit rush and an ascending trend of taking risks. In order to diminish its effects, central banks and governments made a prompt and joint intervention which resulted in urgent measures to re-establish the trust in the international financial system.

However, the deficiencies in the risk management (associated with other weaknesses in the functioning of the financial markets) call for a profound reform of the financial regulatory and supervisory framework. The success of this process aiming the improvement of the regulatory structure and, especially, of the components which encountered major dysfunctions, cannot be conceived without revising the entire supervision architecture at both regional and international level, so that it can provide the revitalization, consolidation and effectiveness of the international financial system as a whole.

Keywords: financial crisis; banking supervision; Lamfalussy “Architecture”; De Larosiere Report; efficiency; effective.