The discovery of mistakes in pension scheme documents is as common as it is potentially serious for the administration of the scheme and for the sponsoring employer. The large sums invested in pension schemes mean that such mistakes are often very costly indeed. This book provides a practical guide to the different methods available to correct commonly-occurring mistakes in the governing provisions of pension schemes. It combines a detailed review of the law with (where relevant) practical tips, including analysis of the appropriate practice and procedure involved in the key methods of correction. With a significant body of case law enabling more authoritative answers to be given to the legal issues affecting the correction of pension scheme mistakes, and more and more mistakes being discovered because of the move to secure pension scheme liabilities with insurance companies, trustees and employers need swift and accurate legal advice on what they can do to correct such mistakes. This book provides them and their legal advisers with that advice ensuring they do not make the same costly mistakes that others have made. This book will help the reader to: * To select the most appropriate method of correcting the mistake * Consider including provisions in the terms of the pension scheme which may make the correction of the mistake easier and cheaper * Select the most tax-efficient way of correcting the mistake * Understand the processes involved in correcting the mistake * Better advise their clients as to how to deal with the mistake

The Chinese insurance market is expanding enormously as risk adversity takes hold in the economy while the role of the State as guarantor of commerce is gradually reduced. In addition, insurance is a heavily regulated field with detailed contract law stipulations. An introduction to regulation and contract law and an understanding of current issues is essential for someone seeking to do business in the Chinese market. Insurance law is also a field that translates well from one jurisdiction to another, and academics will be interested in understanding how issues are dealt with in another jurisdiction. The book seeks to present and discuss current topics in Chinese insurance law and regulation to an English-speaking audience knowledgeable of common law insurance law and international insurance business. The combined effect of the papers is to present Chinese insurance law to an audience unfamiliar with Chinese law, in a readable and accessible essay chapter format. Each chapter is written by an expert in the field and goes beyond a basic introduction to provide in depth well-researched information and academic analysis on the topic in question.

Offering a comparative case study of transitional justice processes in Afghanistan and Nepal, this book critically evaluates the way the "local" is consulted in post-conflict efforts toward peace and reconciliation. It argues that there is a tendency in transitional justice efforts to contain the discussion of the "local" within religious and cultural parameters, thus engaging only with a "static local," as interpreted by certain local stakeholders. Based on data collected through interviews and participant observation carried out in the civil societies of the respective countries, this book brings attention to a "dynamic local," where societal norms evolve, and realities on the ground are shaped by shifting power dynamics, local hierarchies, and inequalities between actors. It suggests that the "local" must be understood as an inter-subjective concept, the meaning of which is not only an evolving and moving target, but also dependent on who is consulted to interpret it to external actors. This timely book engages with the divergent range of civil society voices and offers ways to move forward by including their concerns in the efforts to help impoverished war-torn societies transition from a state of war to the conditions of peace.

This book examines the prospects for business law reform to drive economic development in developing countries. It argues that, despite statements to the contrary, cultural factors and other local conditions in developing countries are not properly taken into account in current business law reform programs. Utilizing the city of Dakar as an example, this book investigates the consequences of this lack of fit between local needs and transplanted legal models by examining the potential and actual impact of the OHADA program of law reform on local business practices. Focusing on how managers make decisions and apply appropriate norms in routine business operations, the book documents how contractual disputes arise and are solved in Dakar and the role played by formal law in these processes. By examining imported law from the point of view of the end-users of legal reforms, the book reveals the complex relationship between formal law, local cultural norms and the activities of SMEs operating in developing economies, and calls for a reconsideration of current law and development theory as well as the role of contract law in business decisions. It will be relevant to all developing countries seeking to align their laws with 'best practice' as identified by aid institutions.

Blockchain Technology and the Law: Opportunities and Risks is one of the first texts to offer a critical analysis of Blockchain and the legal and economic challenges faced by this new technology. This book will offer those who are unfamiliar with Blockchain an introduction as to how the technology works and will demonstrate how a legal framework that governs it can be used to ensure that it can be successfully deployed. Discussions included in this book: - an introduction to smart contracts, and their potential, from a commercial and consumer law perspective, to change the nature of transactions between parties; - the impact that Blockchain has already had on financial services, and the possible consumer risks and macro-economic issues that may arise in the future; - the challenges that are facing global securities regulators with the development of Initial Coin Offerings and the ongoing risks that they pose to the investing public; - the risk of significant privacy breaches due to the online public nature of Blockchain; and - the future of Blockchain technology. Of interest to academics, policy-makers, technology developers and legal practitioners, this book will provide a thorough examination of Blockchain technology in relation to the law from a comparative perspective with a focus on the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

Over the past two decades, the banking industry has expanded and consolidated at a stunningly unprecedented speed. In this time banks have also moved from focusing purely on commercial banking activities to being heavily involved in market-based and transaction-oriented wholesale and investment banking activities. By carrying out an all-encompassing set of activities, banks have become large, complex, interconnected, and inclined to levels of risk-taking not previously seen. With the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis it became apparent that there was an issue of institutions being too big to fail. This book analyses the too-big-to-fail problem of banks in the EU. It approaches the topic from an interdisciplinary perspective using behavioural finance as a tool to examine the occurrence of the global financial crisis and the emergence of the structural problem in large banking institutions. The book draws a comparison between the EU, the US and the UK and the relevant rules to assess the effectiveness of various approaches to regulation in a global context. Chen Chen Hu goes on to use behavioural analyses to provide new insights in evaluating the current structural reform rules in the EU Proposal on Bank Structural Regulation and the newly adopted bank recovery and resolution regime in the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) in the Single Resolution Regulation.

Approximately 40 per cent of value of international trade comes from goods carried by air, and the consequences of goods being damaged, destroyed or delayed can be serious, substantial, and perhaps unforeseen. This exciting new book is the only one on the market that deals exclusively with air cargo insurance, and will therefore, be a vital addition to the collection of any practitioner, professional or academic working in the field. Air Cargo Insurance analyses the model policies and standard terms and conditions on the London markets. The authors also provide readers with an invaluable perspective on cases in other jurisdictions, and the book discusses freight forwarders' relations with airlines and addresses the possibility of recovery from third parties. This book, written by two of the leading experts in the field, provides invaluable guidance to practitioners, arbitrators and cargo-claims professionals. It will help to ensure that air cargo insurance contracts are better drafted and enforceable, as well as assisting in cases of disputed claims. Academics and postgraduate students specialising in the areas of in air and insurance law will also find this book extremely useful.

This book examines policy developments that have been occurring in the field of financial regulation and their implications for the insurance industry and markets. With UK and US contributors from academia and legal practice, this book will be essential reading for policy-makers, insurance regulators, insurance and legal professionals as well as students and academics researching and studying insurance law.

Now it its second edition, this book is an authoritative and comprehensive review on all aspects of the law that relate to liability insurance contracts. It aims to cover the all the major types of liability insurance, not just professional indemnity insurance, and presents the issues according to the general principles of contract law. Updated to include the impact of the Insurance Act 2015, the book takes a comparative view of the law, tailored to those professionals operating in a global economy, as well as academics and post-graduate students.

This book brings together the issues surrounding banking secrecy and confiscation of criminal proceeds. The book examines the existing legal agreements at the international, regional and national levels and their interaction in the substantive areas of confiscation, anti-money laundering and banking confidentiality laws. It looks at how these agreements have been applied in offshore financial centers and demonstrates that despite a number of legally binding UN Conventions as well as global anti-money laundering recommendations, the implementation of them is often lukewarm by those Parties who have ratified the Convention and adopted obligations, because of this the confiscation legislation is incompatible with strict banking confidentiality laws. The work draws on the experience of criminologists to offer critical insight into the legislative frameworks designed to deal with banking secrecy and confiscation in offshore financial centers. It goes on to offer suggestions for measures that may be taken by major economies to circumvent the lack of cooperation by offshore financial centers as intolerance towards money laundering grows in light of recent political and economic events. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Law, Finance and Criminology.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, there has been a worldwide search for alternative investment opportunities, away from advanced markets. The African continent is now one of the fastest-growing economic regions in the world and represents a viable destination for foreign direct and portfolio investment. This book, which is the first comprehensive analysis of financial integration and regulation in Africa, fills a huge gap in the literature on financial regulation and would constitute an invaluable source of information to policy makers, investors, researchers and students of financial regulation from an emerging and frontier markets perspective. It considers how financial integration can facilitate African financial markets to achieve their full potential and provides a comparative study with the EU framework for financial integration and regulation. It assesses the implementation of effective and regional domestic infrastructures and how these can be adapted to suit the African context. The book also provides an assessment of government policies towards the integration of financial regulation in keeping with the regional agenda of the African Union (AU) and the African Economic Community (AEC).

Written from the perspective of the Average Adjuster, and updated to include a detailed analysis of the new rules adopted in 2016, this book is an essential read for practitioners in maritime law and marine insurance. The book contains: historical references regarding the establishment of General Average from Roman Law onwards; details of the establishment of International rules to achieve uniformity in the adjustment of General Average and their development: the Glasgow Resolutions of 1860; the York rules of 1864; and the York-Antwerp Rules 1877, 1890, 1924, 1950, 1974, 1994, 2004 and 2016; a detailed analysis of the York-Antwerp Rules 2016; CMI Guidelines relating to General Average; general average security; general average absorption clauses; and new to this edition: insurance of average disbursements.

Since the financial crisis, one of the key priorities of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has been individual accountability. This book addresses the regulatory and employment law challenges that arise from the FCA's and PRA's requirements. The expert team of writers examine in depth the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 which relate to individuals, and the associated requirements of the PRA and FCA. The topics addressed include: The Senior Manager, Certification and Approved Person Regimes Regulatory references and whistleblowing Disciplinary investigations, enforcement and sanctions Notifications, 'Form C', and fitness & propriety Bonus disputes and the Remuneration Code Conduct and Pay in the Financial Services Industry considers the full extent of an individual's employment, from pre-contractual discussions to the post-termination clawback of remuneration. It is a vital reference for lawyers and human resources professionals working within the financial services industry, both in-house and in private practice. It will also be of interest to all academics, regulators and policy-makers involved in this sector.

Chinese Insurance Contracts: Law and Practice is the first systematic text written in English on the law of insurance in China. This book offers a critical analysis of the major principles, doctrines and concepts of insurance contract law in China. At every point the analysis discusses the principles of the Insurance Law in detail, referring where appropriate to decided cases and also drawing attention to external influences. Readers are guided through the complexities of Chinese law in a clear and comprehensive fashion, and - significantly - in a manner that is accessible and meaningful for those used to a common law system. This book presents a comprehensive picture of Chinese insurance contract law, to facilitate a wider understanding of the relevant rules of law. Elements of insurance contract law are critically examined. In addition, this book presents rules of law on some special types of insurance contract, such as life insurance, property insurance, liability insurance, motor vehicle insurance, reinsurance, and marine insurance. The deficiencies and shortcomings of the law and practice will be identified and analysed; suggestions and recommendations on how to reform the law will be presented. Chinese Insurance Contracts also offers legal and practical advice to insurance professionals on how to draft clauses to avoid contractual pitfalls. It also uses cases to illustrate the difficulties which can arise in applying the principles in practice. This book will be essential reading for insurance companies and legal practitioners looking to do business in China, as well as reference for Chinese lawyers practising insurance law. It will also be a useful resource for students and academics studying Chinese law.

Historic preservation is an issue of growing importance and public commitment. Federal and state mechanisms have been established to identify and support historic buildings/sites, while local governments have been active in supporting and protecting historic resources. Communities across the country have established designation programs whereby individual buildings or districts of historical-architectural significance are accorded landmark status.

Designation activity has been accompanied by growing interest in other local incentives/disincentives to the support of historic buildings. In this regard, the property tax is viewed as either a possible powerful drawback to or a catalyst of preservation. This study examines the relationship between historic preservation and the property tax, focusing on the question of how designated buildings should be assessed for real taxation purposes.

Listokin focuses on New York City in considering the effects of historic status on property value and in evaluating assessment practices. But this book's findings are transferrable to other communities because the base conditions are similar. Many other cities have designation programs modeled on New York City's. In addition, New York's property-tax system and administrative processes resemble those found in communities across the nation. To enhance the transferability of this study's findings, Listokin refers to the national experience and literature, typically on a side-by-side basis with the New York City counterpart.

The book examines the regulation of insider dealing in the developed jurisdictions, using three of the G7 countries as guides with the aim of knowing how they have regulated insider trading and what lessons can be learnt from their failures and achievements. It looks at regulatory regimes in the US, the UK and Japan in order to consider whether these regimes can be successfully transplanted to developing countries. In order to explore insider dealing in the developing world the book focuses on Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and second largest economy. This book examines in theoretical and empirical terms the law on insider trading away from the dogmatic approach of Western literature by presenting the subject from the prism of a developing jurisdiction in post-colonial Africa with a divergent cultural, historical, social, political and economic background. The author analyses what shape insider dealing takes in Nigeria, a predominantly illiterate society, and considers the groups involved. The books also explores how the concept of insider dealing regulation is understood amongst parties integral to its administration and enforcement such as lawyers, judges, stockbrokers, and ordinary investors. The legislation governing insider dealing regulation in Nigeria is critically examined to expose its strengths and weaknesses, and to see how foreign provisions and legislation have been incorporated. The book uses Nigerian experiences to consider its implications for other developing nations, arguing that regulatory regimes need to take into account the specific social, political, historical and economic factors of a particular locale rather than importing regulations wholesale from developed jurisdictions.

The financial market events in 2007-2009 have spurred renewed interest and controversy in debates regarding financial regulation and supervision. This book takes stock of the developments in EU legislation, case law and institutional structures with regards to banking regulation and supervision, which preceded and followed the recent financial crisis. It does not merely provide an update, but anchors these developments into the broader EU law context, challenging past paradigms and anticipating possible developments. The author provides a systematic analysis of the interactions between the content of prudential rules and the mechanisms behind their production and application European Prudential Banking Regulation and Supervision includes discussions of the European banking market structure and of regulatory theory that both aim to circumscribe prudential concerns. It scrutinises the content of prudential norms, proposes a qualification of these norms and an assessment of their interaction with other types of norms (corporate, auditing and accounting, consumer protection, competition rules). It also features an analysis of the underpinning institutional set-up and its envisaged reforms, focusing on the typical EU concerns related to checks and balances. Finally, the book attempts to revive the debate on supervisory liability, in light of the developments discussed. This book will be of great value to all those interested in financial stability matters (practitioners, policy-makers, students, academics), as well as to EU law scholars.

Time itself creates advantages and disadvantages in the field of taxation. The timing of the recognition of income and expenses for tax purposes has two main implications: firstly, for the timing of the collection of tax, and secondly, for the question of quantification, i.e., how to ensure that the difference between the timing of the recognition of income or expenses, as opposed to the respective dates on which the amounts are actually received or paid, does not distort the determination of the amount of chargeable income. The time component is a weapon in the confrontation between the opposing motivations of the taxpayers and the tax authorities. In any given fiscal year, taxpayers seek to present a minimal picture of their chargeable income, by "deferring" the recognition of income or "advancing" the recognition of expenses. As opposed to this, the tax authorities adopt the opposite strategy: maximizing taxable "profit" in any given year. This book critically examines the various approaches that have been adopted in the tax systems in the UK, the US and Israel in relation to the timing of income recognition and expenses for tax purposes. It suggests an innovative tax model that identifies the advantages that arise to the taxpayer as a result of the differences between the timing of the recognition of income and expenses, and the timing of the receipt of the revenue or the payment of a liability, and taxes only that advantage.

This timely research review successfully combines economically-oriented legal scholarship on insurance with policy-relevant economics scholarship on insurance. Professor Schwarcz has selected seminal contributions from the past twenty years to explore some of the central questions involving the role of the state in insurance markets. These include rules governing the interpretation and enforceability of insurance contracts, the regulation of insurers and insurance markets, and the role of public programs in supporting private insurance markets. This essential title will be of immense value and interest to students and academics interested in the diverse field of the law and economics of insurance.

Consumer credit information systems are the tools used by the majority of lenders to manage credit risk, with lenders accessing credit reference databases managed by third party providers to evaluate a consumer's credit application. So far, the subject of consumer credit reporting has been left to the predominant attention of the economic and business management scholarship and little or no consideration has been paid by lawyers. This book aims to rectify this by examining the legal framework and compliance in the European Community (EC) of such consumer information sharing arrangements which have become increasingly integrated in the credit granting practices of the Member States. The book looks at the laws which surround and affect consumer credit reporting, including bank secrecy obligations. Consumer credit reporting and its relationship to human rights is also explored, as every individual is in the EC is entitled to informational privacy. The book asks questions such as to what extent should the privacy of consumers be balanced against the aims and functions of consumer credit reporting, and how do the financial information sharing arrangements comply with the positive law, particularly the European data protection legislation?

Set against the backdrop of the recurring waves of financial scandal and crisis to hit Canada, the US, the UK, and Europe over the last decade, this book examines the struggles of securities enforcement agencies to police the financial markets. While allegations of regulatory failure in this realm are commonplace and are well documented in policy and legal scholarship, James Williams seeks to move beyond these conventional accounts arguing that they are based on a limited view of the regulatory process and overlook the actual practices and dilemmas of enforcement work. Informed by interviews with police, regulators, lawyers, accountants, and investor advocates, along with a wealth of documentary materials, the book is rooted in a uniquely interdisciplinary social science perspective. Peering inside the black box of enforcement, it examines the organizational, professional, geographical, technological, and legal influences that shape securities enforcement as a distinctly knowledge-based enterprise. The result of these influences, Williams argues, is the production of a very particular vision of financial disorder which captures certain forms of misconduct while overlooking others, a reflection not of incompetence or capture but of the unique demands and constraints of the regulatory craft. Providing a very different, and much needed, account of the challenges faced by regulators and enforcement agencies, this book will be of enormous interest to current research on enforcement, regulation, and governance both within and beyond the financial realm.

The question of how we can best regulate the all-important markets for legal services is rarely investigated with the benefit of good empirical evidence about what's wrong and what works. The challenge of doing empirical work in this area is steep, given a lack of data and the complexity of comparing across very different jurisdictions and legal environments. In this much-needed contribution, Frank Stephen usefully brings together a set of empirical studies and an overview of the recent regulatory reforms that have been pursued in the UK and other European jurisdictions in the past two decades. The result will help policymakers make further progress in the increasingly urgent effort to establish efficient and accessible markets for legal services worldwide.' - Gillian K. Hadfield, USC Gould School of Law, US'Frank Stephen draws on thirty years' experience of working on the regulation of the legal professions, and on several empirical studies, to provide a fascinating account of the evolving attempts to introduce competition into the supply of legal services and how such attempts have sometimes been thwarted. It also makes a major contribution to the theoretical debate on the justifications, modes and likely impacts of regulation.' - Anthony Ogus, University of Manchester, UK and University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands 'Professor Stephen's book provides a wonderfully concise, accessible and insightful review of both the theory and the empirical evidence (much of it his) on regulatory restrictions on the provision of legal services and challenges traditional arguments for the self-regulation of the legal profession. His economic/consumer welfare perspective provides a stimulating reference point in ongoing debates on the appropriate regulation of the market for legal services and the case for self-regulation, which (unlike the UK) is still very strongly espoused in North America, but under increasing scrutiny. Professor Stephen s book will intensify this scrutiny.' - Michael Trebilcock, University of Toronto, Canada Frank H. Stephen's evaluation of public policy on the legal profession in UK and European jurisdictions explores how regulation and self-regulation have been liberalized over the past 30 years. The book surveys where the most recent and radical liberalization involving the ownership of law firms by non-lawyers is likely to lead, and appraises the economic literature on the costs and benefits of regulating markets for professional services. It challenges socio-legal views on professional legislation and highlights the limitations of regulatory competition, as well as the importance of dominant business models. The author reviews the empirical work underpinning these theories and policies. He also evaluates the effectiveness of regulatory competition as a response to regulatory capture. Lawyers, Markets and Regulation will be of interest to academics focusing on professional regulation in the fields of economics and law. Lawyers, legal policymakers, competition authorities and regulators will also find the book to be an enlightening read. Contents: Preface 1. Introduction Part I: Why Do We Regulate Lawyers? 2. Why Regulate Lawyers? 3. How Lawyers are Regulated 4. Lawyers and Incentives Part II: Deregulation of Legal Markets in the UK and Europe 5. Liberalization of Legal Markets in UK and EU Jurisdictions 6. Evidence on Effects of Deregulation Part III: The Future of 'Lawyering' 7. Legal Services Act 2007 and the Promotion of Regulatory Competition 8. A Technological Revolution in 'Lawyering'? 9. Summary and Conclusions References Index

In the world's developing countries, foreign investment in natural resources brings into contact competing interests that are often characterised by unequal balances of negotiating power - from multinational corporations and host governments, through to the local people affected by the influx of foreign investment. The growing integration of the world economy has been accompanied by rapid and extensive developments in the national and international norms that regulate investment and its impact - including investment law, natural resource law and human rights law. These legal developments affect the 'shadow' that the law casts over the multiple negotiations that characterise international investment projects in the developing world. Drawing on international law, the national law of selected jurisdictions and the contracts concluded in a large investment project, Human Rights, Natural Resource and Investment Law in a Globalised World explores the ways in which the law protects the varied property rights that are at play in foreign investment projects in developing countries, with a focus on Africa. Through an integrated analysis of seemingly disparate fields of law, this book sheds new light on how the law mediates the competing interests that come into contact as a result of economic globalisation, whilst also providing new insights on the changing nature of state sovereignty and on the relationship between law and power in a globalised world. This book will be of interest to scholars, students and informed practitioners working in the fields of international investment and human rights law, comparative law, socio-legal studies, and development studies.

The Insurance Act 2015 ('the Act') is the first comprehensive statutory reform of the insurance law of the United Kingdom since the Marine Insurance Act 1906. It introduces thorough and, in some cases, fairly drastic reform of some of the core tenets of UK insurance law, including: the insured's pre-contractual duty to the insurer, and remedies for its breach; the knowledge of the insured and the insurer for the purposes of the pre-contractual duty; the effect of insurance warranties and other terms tending to reduce the risk of loss; fraudulent claims; and damages for failure to pay an insurance claim in a reasonable time. This book is a thorough introduction to the Act. It focuses primarily on the impact of the Act on English law as applied to non-consumer insurance and reinsurance. Of assistance not only to insurance lawyers and members of the judiciary, but also underwriters, claims handlers, brokers and buyers of non-consumer insurance policies, this book covers each of the core changes brought about by the Act. It also analyses the particular ways in which the Act differs from existing law, by reference to the Marine Insurance Act 1906, and cases decided under the old law.