It seems, on the face of it, that Jamaica's National Commercial Bank (NCB) will plead that, as an institution, it fulfilled its obligations under the Money Laundering Act once it discovered reportable transactions on the accounts of reputed drug dealer Norris 'Deedo' Nembhard.

The fact that it filed the reports late, that bank has suggested in its public statement on the matter, was because it was let down by staff. The requisite staff at the branch at which the transactions occurred in 2003 were subsequently disciplined.

What has so far not been made clear in this matter was when precisely did NCB discover the breach and, therefore, when it alerted the authorities. This information would possibly provide some context why the authorities, more than three years after the offences, decided to indict NCB and not bring charges, say, against a specific officer of the bank.

Indeed, we expect that this case will be watched closely internationally given global concerns about money laundering and the use of financial institutions in this effort.

But while these matters may be sub judice and will perhaps have to await the court hearings for full ventilation, this case ought to place firmly on the national agenda for serious debate the issue of the regulation of the financial sector. The development is indeed timely, for it has recently become fashionable among some in Jamaica to propose a laissez-faire approach to such regulation. Or, better still, have none at all.

Not long ago, when the Trafigura affair was at its height, it was not an uncommon position, depending on the political persuasion of the person articulating the view, that it was all right to leak confidential banking information into the public domain, once such leaks were in the public interest. The only problem was that public interest in this case was usually translated, after the intellectual meandering, to mean embarrassing your political opponent.

What became secondary, if it gained any attention at all, was the weight to be given to the maintenance of a banking system in which people should be reasonably certain that their legal, private transaction would remain just that - private. But neither was there serious and thoughtful consideration to the circumstance when a moral responsibility to unveil wrong and illegality should overide privacy and what mechanism, which would not be perverted by special interests, should be in place for this.

Trafigura has receded a bit, but on stage is the question of how far regulators should go in registering people who deal in equities and what should be the test of whether their offerings are in the public domain. It seems, so far, that the balance of support is in favour of return on investment: why should anyone care about issues of licences or registration if you can double your money in seven an half months. Except that the chase for high and speculative returns often leads to financial instability and demands on taxpayers to bail out those who lose their money and livelihoods.

The bottom line is that good regulatory systems help to ensure order in a marketplace without weakening initiative and enterprise. They also help to protect the vulnerable from the charlatans and the corrupt, while assuring the confidence of a global market. Finding this balance is important for Jamaica.