41. There are a number of vexing problems involved in the oversight of financial conglomerates. Some of these problems are rooted in the traditions, legal structures, accounting practices, and histories of the various countries in which financial conglomerates do business; other problems arise because of the understandably different approaches adopted by supervisors in different disciplines. Insurance supervisors, for example, have historically been primarily concerned with the liabilities side of the balance sheet as the main source of risk, although assets are of course monitored too. Their counterparts in the banking sector regard the assets side of the balance sheet as the principal source of risk, although an examination of sources of funding is an important aspect of the supervisory process. For their part, securities supervisors require securities firms to have sufficient liquid assets to repay promptly all liabilities at any time. On the one hand, it is clear that, from the standpoint of supervision, the scope for potential problems increases due to the web of financial inter­relationships that characterise financial conglomerates, particularly when the conglomerate is comprised of entities whose activities span a number of financial markets. At the same time, however, it is also possible for supervisory problems to be reduced in a financial conglomerate due to an improvement in the spreading of risk and an increase in financial solidity.