42. The rapid growth of financial conglomerates which cut across the banking, securities and insurance sectors, raises questions as to whether the traditional approach to prudential supervision ­ whereby each supervisor monitors institutions in one constituency without much contact with supervisors responsible for other parts of the group ­ is still appropriate. The Tripartite Group very quickly came to the unanimous view that, while the solo supervision of individually regulated entities should continue to be the foundation for effective supervision, there is a need for the various supervisors to establish a coordinated approach to supervision so that a prudential assessment can also be made from a group­wide perspective. This is essential in order to provide supervisors with a realistic insight into a group's risks and the respective capital coverage; it also enables supervisors to prevent, or at least to assess the extent of, any excessive or double gearing.