The finance ministers of the G7 nations met in Washington on Friday, and they agreed that there are "some signs that recession-fighting efforts are finally starting to work" according to a Reuters report. But the finance ministers are not satisfied with the pace of recovery, and remain concerned with "the slow progress in cleansing bank balance sheets."

Christine Lagarde, France's finance minister, says banks in her country are in relatively good shape.  She is concerned that the global leaders have not yet dealt with fixing the overall regulatory structure of the global economy.  She was a guest on Charlie Rose last night, and in the interview she told Rose that she isn't calling for more regulation, but rather coordinated regulation--"common regulation, common principles."  When asked if governments should wait until after the economic crisis is halted to revamp regulation, Lagarde says that the French position is to do it simultaneously.  If we don't reform the regulatory structure before we stimulate growth, she says, we will soon have false hope.  That is, we will see a period of growth, causing people to then ignore the call for regulatory change, while the system remains be broken.  Here is Lagarde's interview with Charlie Rose: