Financial institutions in most countries operte in a heavily regulated environment because they are critical parts of countries’ economies, due to economies’ dependence on them to grow the money supply via fractional reserve lending. Regulatory structures differ in each country, but typically involve prudential regulation as well as consumer protection and market stability. Some countries have one consolidated agency that regulates all financial while others have separate agencies for different types of institutions such as banks, insurance companies and brokers.

Countries that have separate agencies include the United States, where the key governing bodies are the Fedral Financial Instits Examination Council (FFIEC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - National Banks, Fedral Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) State ’non-member’ banks, National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) - Credit Unions, Federl Reserve (Fed) - ’member’ Banks, Office of Thrift Supervision - National Savings & Loan Association, State governments each often regulate and charter financial insts.

Countries that have one consolidated financial regulator include: Norway with the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway, Germany with Federl Financial Supervisory Authority and Russia with Central Bank of Russia. See also List of financial regulatory authorities by country.