Globalisation is making international financial crises far more frequent and

severe. And, as the world faces the GSC – the global sovereign crisis – a new

approach is required, argues Ross Buckley, professor of international finance at

the University of New South Wales. An international bankruptcy forum would bring

together bankers and debtors to reach agreements to help defaulting countries

and potentially eliminate their need for drastic austerity measures. In the

interim, indebted countries could continue trading and try to clean up their

acts. The upshot would be a speedier resolution of debt crises, delivery of more

humane outcomes and the constraint of reckless borrowing and lending. So is it

time for the International Monetary Fund to move over?