Banks were once regarded as a symbol of financial security. People deposited money with banks, confident that it would be fully protected. Bank failure was simply out of the question. The myth of the "invincible bank" collapsed following the burst of the economic bubble a decade ago. Now depositors know firsthand that banks, too, can go bankrupt.

The risk of bank failure puts a premium on sound banking and holds bankers strictly accountable for their decisions. It also imposes a new discipline on the depositors: choosing banks at their own risk. To make reasonable choices, however, they will need to acquire a minimum knowledge of financial affairs, including vital bank statistics.

Deposits are now fully protected under an emergency insurance scheme that went into effect in the mid-1990s. The assumption then was that, without full protection, deposits would drain away from weaker banks and trigger a wave of credit risks. In a sense, that assumption is arguably still valid, lending a degree of credence to the view that the ad hoc measure should be continued until banks get back on their feet.