I'm in finance as well. The regulation is overwhelming. i always feel like i'm working on something for external auditors instead of driving value and savings for the company. It is tiresome.

Does the added regulation, oversight help prevent the problems that led to the 08 crisis? Also curious to know what/how these learnings manifest themselves outside of goverment imposed regulations.

Yes, that is kind of a point. Outside of regulation the learnings manifest themselves in models that better capture tail, correlation, and liquidity risks.