With the growth in financial activity in and between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China or Taiwan and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, an understanding of the development and status of financial law and regulation in the Chinese Economic Circle is increasingly important. This book provides an overview of the most significant areas of financial regulation in the Greater China Area, bringing together expert essays on banking, insurance, securities and general financial law in the PRC, banking and insurance in Taiwan, and financial law in Hong Kong. This work collects in a single volume, the significant history and development of financial law within the Greater China Area, providing an insight into the development and relationship of these three diverse but inter-related financial systems.

Grounding its analysis in the historical evolution of financial regulation, this book addresses a range of public policy issues that concern the design of financial regulation and its enforcement, and contributes several new ideas to the debate in this field. Financial systems have become more competitive across sectors of financial institutions and nations, and direct regulations have been removed in pursuit of efficiency. However, as the risk of institutional failures has increased, de-regulation has had to be followed by re-regulation. In which form should this happen? This book answers this question. First revisiting the issue of "why to regulate", Padoa-Schioppa argues that the need to continue to regulate banks in a special way follows from their key role as liquidity providers. At the same time, his argument recognizes the need for close interplay in the regulation of different financial sectors. The book goes on to discuss "how" regulation should be carried out in the modern environment. It should be market-friendly, but the balance between official intervention and market discipline is difficult to get right. Moreover, in an increasingly international context, financial regulation has to be evenly applied across countries to avoid regulatory arbitrage. The final part of the book turns to issues specifically connected with developments in the European Union. One major issue is the maintenance of financial stability in the Euro area where the financial system is becoming especially integrated. Another major issue is the appropriate role of central banks. As the literature and practice are still very much under development, Padoa-Schioppa analyses the general aspects of the financial stability function of central banks - particularly in relation to the monetary policy and supervision functions - as well as the tools available for the Eurosystem.

The global financial and economic crisis which started in 2008 has had devastating effects around the globe. It has caused a rethinking in different areas of law, and posed new challenges to regulators and private actors alike. One of the emerging issues is the apparent eclipse of boundaries between different legal disciplines: financial and corporate lawyers have to learn how public law instruments can complement their traditional governance tools; conversely, public lawyers have had to come to understand the specificities of the financial markets they intend to regulate. While commentary on financial regulation and the global financial crisis abounds, it tends to remain within disciplinary boundaries. This volume not only brings together scholarship from different areas of law (constitutional and administrative law, EU law, financial law and regulation), but also from a variety of backgrounds (the academy, practice, policy-making) and a number of different jurisdictions. The volume illustrates how interdisciplinary scholarship belongs at the centre of any discussion of the economic crisis, and indeed regulation theory more generally. This is a timely exploration of cutting-edge issues of financial regulation.

Like it or not, money launderers are major players in the world's economy. Their strategies constrain national economic policies and undermine financial institutions. With the advent of secure transfer technologies, and with the help of modern financial theories of derivatives and leverage, money laundering has become a significant structural component in contemporary geopolitics. This analysis focuses on control: how the problem is handled by legislation and regulatory and law enforcement agencies (particularly in the US and the EU), what the daunting challenges are that must be faced, what more can be attempted. In the course of developing in-depth consideration of the numerous intertwining issues that arise, the author uncovers a wealth of precise detail about what we know and what we can reasonably surmise about patterns of money laundering activity. Relevant matters covered include: the internal measuring and monitoring systems used by financial institutions; methodologies in use or in development to measure the extent of money laundering; the role of money laundering in the "informal economy"; the global rise of new criminal organizations; conflicts of criminal legislation and civil law; the relation of money laundering to capital flight; degrees of moral ambiguity and appropriately tailored control strategies; the role of offshore financial centres (OFCs); the use of derivatives in the money laundering process; obstacles to the monitoring of wire transfer activity in real time; and the "ethical indeterminacy" of white-collar crime. As a cross-disciplinary analysis of money laundering - fully recognizing the activity's economic, political, and juridical dimensions - this book identifies an array of criteria that may be used to develop and implement effective control strategies.

Law relating to trade in financial services is examined here, with a particular focus on the rules contained in Chapter 14 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). After a detailed analysis of the relevant provisions and their effect on financial institutions in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, the author examines the impact of the NAFTA rules on the legal position of banks operating in countries outside NAFTA, particularly in the context of the WTO financial services provisions. The book concludes with a chapter on the effects of a potential NAFTA expansion. The book aims to contribute to the development of a new legal and regulatory framework distinct from those of trade and financial services law, and offers an insight into how trade in financial services within a regional trade agreement develops its own legal dynamic.

Until recent years, formal bank insolvency proceedings were rare occurrences, with governments more often than not coming to the rescue of failing banks. As a result, few studies relating to bank failure have paid much attention to the regulatory framework for failing banks and the conduct of formal bank insolvency proceedings. However, in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, more attention has been focused on issues of bank insolvency. Structural reforms in the banking sector of various Asian countries, in particular the implementation of effective exit rules to expel insolvent and non-viable banks from the market, have been considered of primary importance to restoring confidence in the troubled banking sector. In addition, the ability of governments within the European Union to rescue insolvent banks has been significantly limited by strict rules on competition, suggesting that failing banks will become increasingly subject to insolvency proceedings. This text compares the legal framework for dealing with insolvent banks in Western Europe, the United States and Canada, identifying the distinctive features of each regime and discussing the main issues and choices in dealing with failing banks. It also examines the implications of a cross-border bank insolvency, and considers different approaches to the problems it raises, including the supranational approach of the proposed European Directive on the Reorganization and Winding-up of Credit Institutions. This work should be of value to lawmakers, to consultants and scholars engaged in technical assistance work, and to those who advise the legislators and officials involved in devising a legal framework for bank insolvency. It should also be of interest to practitioners and in-house counsel working in the field of banking and corporate law.

Derivative instruments are the contracts used in the global market for future commodities. The value of these contracts exceeds two trillion US dollars per day, making them the world's biggest market. Very little of substance has been published about this critically important business and its implications for the future direction of the world economy. This work is a collection of papers presented at the International Conference on Derivative Instruments at London University's Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in October 1993. It contains the current views of the world's leading regulators, most successful traders and top legal, economic and scientific experts in this rapidly growing market. The size and continued growth of this sector of the financial services business means that an increasing number of lawyers, government and market regulators, and people active in the financial services industry need to have a solid understanding of trading in derivative instruments. This volume contains the explanations of some knowledgeable experts and should be a useful primary source for newcomers to begin to learn about derivative instruments and for experienced practitioners to expand their understanding.

In this era of late-modern capitalism the forces of internationalization and technological innovation are transforming both global and national economies. A key feature of these transformation processes is the increasing strategic economic, political and social importance of the financial services sector to nation states and trading blocs. The increasing size and volatility of the world's financial markets underline the importance of better understanding: how financial markets work; how they should be regulated; and the significance of the problem of white collar crime in the financial services sector. This text addresses these key questions through a synthesis of legal, historical and sociological approaches in its critique of financial services regulation. This strategy integrates perspectives based in structuration theory, censure theory, modernity theory and the literature on legitimacy in its analysis of the actors, structures and processes that construct regulation and deviancy in the financial services sector. Based on a detailed analysis of regulation in the UK, the book examines the global and national forces and processes which interact to produce systems of financial services regulation. The UK regulatory system is contrasted with those of other jurisdictions, in particular the US, demonstrating the role of national and cultural factors in shaping such systems. This work should be of specific interest to financial services professionals, corporate lawyers, regulators and academics.

Italian Banking and Financial Law provides a thorough overview of the banking sector in Italy, offering historical perspectives, insight into current developments and suggestions for future evolution.

This volume covers the development of bank supervisory standards for an emerging Chinese Economic Circle (CEC) in which the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong form an informal interdependent relationship through their significant and increasing inter-investment and inter-trade activities. The PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong have all embarked on definitive plans to liberalize the regulation of their respective banking industries and to develop Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong into major regional financial centres. The author suggests that in order to do this successfully, it is necessary that the "core value" of prudential supervision, which is based on banking standards from the UK, USA, EU and the Basle Committee, is fully integrated into Chinese banking law and practice. The author concludes that banking supervision in the CEC should be conferred with a wide degree of discretionary power to take the necessary measures to preserve this "core value" of prudential supervision. The book should be of prime interest to academics and practitioners in the field of banking law, particularly those with a special interest in the Asia-Pacific region.

Departing from an International Relations perspective, this book inquires how industry self-regulation affects the role of international law in governing global banks. It provides case studies of the Wolfsberg Principles and the Equator Principles.

Contains 13 national reports and the general report on Money Laundering and Banking Secrecy. The reports were written for the XIVth Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law which was held in 1994 in Athens, Greece. As narcotics trafficking exploded in the 1980s, it was realized that money laundering had become a threat to the entire integrity of the financial system. The international trend to regard money laundering as a serious threat to the stability of democracy and the rule of law found expression in the adoption of the 1988 United Nations Drugs Convention. Gradually, the international community diverged from its traditional, narrow approach whereby only the laundering of drug proceeds was considered a threat. In order to combat money laundering efficiently, it soon became clear that criminal law was not sufficient and that it was necessary for banks and other financial institutions to co-operate with law enforcement agencies. The banking community is now obliged to report suspicious transactions, which they often regard as going beyond their role as bankers. The issue of bank secrecy has played an important role in the discussion between law enforcement agencies and the banking community.

This book examines a key aspect of the post-financial crisis reform package in the EU and UK-the ratcheting up of internal control in banks and financial institutions. The legal framework for internal controls is an important part of prudential regulation, and internal control also constitutes a form of internal gate-keeping for financial firms so that compliance with laws and regulations can be secured. This book argues that the legal framework for internal control, which is a form of meta-regulation, is susceptible to weaknesses, and such weaknesses are critically examined by adopting an interdisciplinary approach. The book discusses whether post-crisis reforms adequately address the weaknesses in regulating internal control and proposes an alternative strategy to enhance the 'governance' effectiveness of internal control.

Bank failures, crises, global banking, megamergers, changes in technology--the effect of these world events is to weaken existing methods of regulating bank safety and soundness, and even to make some methods ineffective. Federal regulators are evaluating new ways to solve them. Dr. Gup and his panel of academics and regulatory professionals explore these problems and the difficulties in implementing solutions. They point out that global banking, megamergers, and changes in technology are drastically altering the way financial services are delivered. They also argue that existing methods of bank regulation, formulated in the United States and elsewhere as early as the 19th century, are not able to cope with these changes. The search now underway for new methods that are global in scope. Inevitably, they will involve cross-border supervision and international cooperation.

Covering a wide range of topics, from the rationale of banking regulation to optimal banking regulation in the new world environments, this book examines the innovative tools needed to cope with these problems. Greater reliance on market discipline; the use of internal controls based on statistical models, such as Value-at-Risk; and subordinated debt are discussed. This timely, probing analysis of one of the hottest topics in bank regulation today, is an important resource for professionals and their academic colleagues in the fields of banking, finance, investment, and world trade.

In a world of fading borders, the Internet has become a regular method of buying and selling. However, technological and legal means of guaranteeing secure electronic transactions lag behind the increasing flexibility required by a flourishing "virtual" economy. Furthermore, as virtual money circulates it is susceptible to interception, processing and channeling by any number of corporate interests and public authorities. The questions arise: who is going to control what and why? There are, as yet, no firm answers. This book sets the stage and takes the necessary first steps towards developing a reliable legal regime for virtual money. Its purpose is: to analyze the legal issues raised by internet payment systems, and to explain clearly the solutions already adopted; and to discuss policy issues, with available hypotheses, raised by the convergence of financial services and information technology, and by the advent of virtual money. The authors provide a rigorous assessment of the appropriateness of the relevant existing legal instruments that regulate Internet payment systems, and focus in particular upon the rapidly increasing use of "electronic cash" - on smart cards or in the form of dematerialized electronic tokens - which behaves like cash, in that it can circulate between parties without the intermediation of a financial institution. The text aims to help lawyers, policymakers and business people successfully negotiate the radical transformation under way in all sectors of business and industry.

The trend towards internationalization, especially in the trade and finance sectors, brings with it an urgent need to know about financial transactions and how they affect currencies. Rapid technological developments are having profound effects on financial transactions, the law and the commercial transactions sustained by that law. The progress in the creation of a single currency for use within the European Community have engendered major controversies over acceptable forms of financial transactions. This work presents the national reports and the general report of the panel on financial transactions which convened at the Athens Conference on Comparative Law, 1994. It reviews the interrelationship between modern techniques for financial transactions and currencies, and the general report ties them all together, as well as distinguishing some common themes in dealing with modern financial transactions.

This work conducts a critical examination of Chinese foreign banking law in the context of the international convergence of supervisory standards and practices. If China is to develop a modern and viable banking sector, it needs to put in place a suitable legal infrastructure which is consistent with emerging international supervisory standards, WTO requirements and aspirations for financial sector liberalization. The author argues that the current foreign banking laws are fundamentally out of line with international standards and practices in a number of respects and that legislators and supervisors do not at present appreciate or cultivate commonly accepted supervisory values. The author therefore proposes a set of reforms that would at the same time create a legal environment for competitive equality between foreign banks and protect the safety and soundness of the Chinese banking system. The issues considered include the licensing process for the entry of foreign banks into the Chinese market, the ongoing regulation of foreign banks and foreign bank crisis management or bank failure resolution. The author offers a proposed framework of Chinese foreign banking law which should be of great benefit to existing and prospective foreign banks in China.

Despite fears that regulators around the world would act to curtail securitisation severely in the aftermath of the collapse of Enron, WorldCom, and Parmalat, the securitisation industry has witnessed what can only be described as relentless innovation. Securisation remains one of the most important means for financial institutions to diversify their funding, transfer credit risk and manage solvency requirements. This volume, the second in a series focusing on the latest innovations in the global securitisation industry, provides advisers with detailed guidance on key structural and legal issues of innovative securitisations, as well as describing the most recent developments in the accounting and risk-capital treatment of securitisation transactions. The contributors represent a wide range of expert participants in the design, execution, and regulation of securitisation transactions. Among the critical features of contemporary securitisation covered are the following: project finance CLOs; securitisation of equity risk; securitisation of commodity risk through commodity trigger swaps; the convergence of structured credit and securitisation markets; innovation in RMBS: negative equity transactions; innovation in CMBS: A/B structure; new markets in Europe, Japan, and Islamic countries; catastrophe risk securitisation; effect of recent US bankruptcy legislation on synthetics; microfinance loan securitisation in emerging markets; public sector securitisation; securitisable intellectual property; application of accounting standards in a rapidly changing environment, and updated analysis of Basel II. The practical perspective of the contributions, combined with the extensive use of case studies of key transactions, should make this volume an invaluable resource for lawyers as well as legal and business academics interested in the very latest developments in the global securitisation markets.

The globalization of the securities markets, rapid technological advancement, the perpetration of widespread cross-border fraud and the proliferation of emerging capital markets have made international financial law an increasingly important area of regulation, practice and research. Its significance will continue to grow in the 21st century, making the advent of a book focusing on developments in international securities law extremely timely. Key topics covered in this book include disclosure requirements, insider trading regulation, global offerings, transnational regulatory co-operation, the role of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), memoranda of understanding and emerging capital markets. Discussion of these issues is supported by examination of the law and policy in numerous countries, including developed and emerging capital markets. The author makes detailed analysis of applicable legal principles with regard to a wide range of topics, discusses proposed standards for law reform and makes recommendations to enhance international cooperation.

This work comprises discussions of issues impacting on the development of banking activities in the Latin American region, together with various perspectives on possible reform. It presents a comparative study of several Latin American banking systems and their supervisory bodies, and examines the institutional structures put in place following the reforms of the last decade. There is further discussion about the relationship that should exist between regulations and discretionary power when banks face difficulties. These various subjects are explored through national case studies including Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala, Argentina, Costa Rica and by way of comparison, the United States and Canada. In addition, the text covers a general discussion of the wider international context. There is comparative study of the structure of supervisory bodies in developed countries and the implications for developing countries, and of how recent international trends in banking supervision have been reflected in the experiences of Latin American countries. The crises experienced by South East Asian financial systems are examined and the ways in which they could impact on Latin America. The book also investigates the integration of banking markets at an international level and the harmonization of different regulatory frameworks. A study of the European Union experience provides a background for the discussion of harmonization in the Mercosur countries. This book arose out of the Second High Level meeting on the reform of the financial systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Venezuela in October 1997 under the auspices of the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American Economic System (SELA). In bringing together the various viewpoints presented at this meeting, the book aims to initiate serious reflection on the reform of Latin American banking systems, and in doing so, to contribute to the achievement of safe and efficient banking markets in the region.

The EU is moving towards the full implementation of the Investment Services Directive (ISD). Indeed, in some Member States, implementation has been or will be complemented by further changes to the domestic legal framework in order to cater more effectively for increased competition among financial institutions and markets. This book analyzes these developments from a legal and economic perspective and includes papers written by academics and practitioners from Europe and the US. Some papers examine critical aspects of the ISD from a comparative viewpoint, in particular considering whether further harmonization would be appropriate. Special attention is paid to the regulation of financial exchanges in the new competitive arena and to the need for co-operation between supervisors. The volume is aimed at all those involved in European securities and derivatives markets in either a legal or economic capacity. It will be of interest to banking and financial lawyers, financial economists, regulators, exchanges and intermediaries.

The Law of Debtors and Creditors is a new case book for a three-unit law school course focusing on the basic principles of American debtor-creditor law. The book focuses on the law of execution on money judgments, using New York law as a paradigm. It also thoroughly covers fraudulent conveyance law, as it exists under state law and under bankruptcy in general. The book also explores the basic principles of chapter 7 liquidation, as well as a thorough review of the avoidance powers granted to a bankruptcy trustee under the Bankruptcy Code. Excluded from this volume is coverage of issues unique to consumer bankruptcy, on which the author has published a separate case book with Vandeplas Publishing, LLC.About the author: David Gray Carlson is Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of law. He is the author of a treatise on secured credit in bankruptcy and of over sixty law review articles on various aspects of bankruptcy and debtor-creditor law. Many of these articles have involved procedural and constitutional issues connected with the enforcement of money judgments obtained in state and federal courts and issues involving fraudulent conveyance and voidable preference law, all of which are implicated in the current volume. He has taught a basic debtor-creditor course for over 25 years. Besides teaching at Cardozo Law School, Carlson has taught at the George Washington School of Law, the, University of Miami Law School, the University of Michigan Law School, Washington & Lee School of Law, and the Interdisciplinary Institute at Herzlya, Israel.

As the transnational character of banking and finance activities becomes ever more pronounced, there is a clear need for lawyers in the field to become conversant with pertinent legal developments in national jurisdictions other than their own. This book takes a major step towards fulfilling that need. It not only provides essential orientation in the banking law of nine countries in which international financial business is commonly transacted, but also offers experienced, high-quality insights into developments and trends in each of these jurisdictions. With origins in the discussions of the Banking and Finance Commission of the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA), this work examines the main areas of banking and finance law across a broad spectrum of areas of law from project finance to financial services regulation. Most of the chapters were originally presented as papers at a conference on "Managing Banking Risks and Combating Fraud" which was jointly organised by IBC and AIJA in London in March 1998. These papers have been updated for inclusion in this work, with the addition of a General Report and a new paper on the United States which takes into account the new Financial Services and Modernization Act (FSMA). Each chapter follows a predetermined outline, so the reader can easily make a comparative analysis across the countries covered.