Perhaps the greatest long-term challenge facing modern economies is how to pay for the living expenses and care costs of the elderly. Following policy decisions made in Australia in the 1990s, a substantial part of the pension requirements of the next cohort of retirees will be met from savings accumulated during working years. The effective management of these savings is crucial. If they are invested wisely, the assets available to fund pensions and care will grow; if not, available funds may turn out to be insufficient. Unfortunately, there is considerable evidence worldwide that the management of funds attracts rent-seeking behaviour by the financial services industry which erodes much of the potential return. Australia introduced compulsory superannuation contributions for its working population in 1991, leading to a proliferation of funded schemes that are largely run by the private sector. Complexity, and many degrees of separation between fund members and those who manage their funds, have emerged as serious problems. Combined with weak competitive pressures and governance systems, and insufficient legal and regulatory constraints, the result is a system that does not serve its members well. This book provides a detailed evaluation of the Australian experience, highlights the extent to which the financial services industry has extracted rents from Australian pensioners, and how and why this occurred. Based on original empirical research, and examination of industry reviews and relevant literature, the book demonstrates the numerous principal-agent, conflict of interest and rent extraction problems that have emerged in Australia. The book makes suggestions for how these problems can be addressed in Australia, and also provides lessons for other countries wishing to enact pension reform.

Law and economics is the field of study devoted to understanding laws and legal institutions using the tools of economic theory. This growing subject has become a mainstream area of study in both law schools and economics departments and this book explores the "law and economics" approach to some of the most interesting questions, issues, and topics in law, order, and justice. Contemporary Issues in Law and Economics considers what economists call the "positive" analysis of the law - that is, using economic theory to explain the nature of the law as it actually exists. As part of this approach the author examines questions such as, what is the economic basis for the predominance of negligence rules in tort law? And, what is the explanation for the illegality of blackmail? Furthermore, another set of questions arises where the law seems to depart from the prescriptions of economic theory, and these issues are also examined in this volume. For example, the deeply rooted norm of proportionality between punishments and crimes, and the use of escalating penalties for repeat offenders, are both explored. With self-contained chapters written in a non-technical style, this book offers a rigorous discussion of the above themes while remaining accessible to those without formal legal or economic training. It offers the ideal introduction to the field of law and economics while also providing a basis for students in more advanced courses.

Through a rational reconstruction of orthodox legal principles, and reference to cutting-edge neuro-science, this book reveals some startling truths about the criminal law, its history and the fundamental doctrines that underpin the attribution of criminal fault. While this has important implications for the criminal law generally, the focus of this work is the development of a theory of corporate criminality that accords with modern theory of group agency, itself informed by advancements in contemporary philosophy and social science. The innovation it proposes is the theoretical and practical means by which criminal fault can be attributed directly to the corporate actor, where liability cannot or should not be reduced to its individual members.

This unique book investigates the extent to which a taxpayer may invoke the freedom of movement within the Community in order to avoid national direct taxes. A Member State's right to protect its taxing authority and tax jurisdiction may collide with a Union citizen's right to free movement under Community law. The author shows what at the national level is viewed as abuse may often be viewed from an EC law perspective as invoking the Treaty freedoms. As his starting point, the author describes relevant Community law as it stands at present, whereby Member States are exclusively authorized to determine the types, tax bases, rates, and procedural aspects of direct taxes. He goes on to examine the possibilities offered by primary EC law to cross-border taxpayers who seek to avoid tax, basing his presentation on an in-depth analysis of the tax and non-tax case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. Among the issues raised in the course of the analysis are the following: applicability of each of the freedoms of the citizen, of goods, of workers, of establishment, of services, and of capital; tests entailed by Community law: the economic activity test, the artificiality test, and the substance test; the extent to which holding and letterbox companies may invoke the freedom of movement; and the fiscal cohesion justification. The author describes the implicit concept of avoidance that the Court apparently uses by examining its tax and non-tax decisions in avoidance-like cases, thus offering a valuable discussion of whether the anti-abuse doctrine development by the Court is a principle of Community law. In its thorough investigation of a major current manifestation of the emblematic conflict between state taxing authority and personal freedom, this thoughtful and well-researched analysis will be of great value to tax professionals, officials, and academics not only on Europe but wherever this fundamental problem in tax law applies.

This book, first published in 1991, explores the complexities of the relationship between acts of Congress and nine major US corporations regarding employer-sponsored retirement plans. The study was designed to discover if and why corporate decision makers respond to the Congress tax incentives or the disincentives that affect the design of corporate income security plans for retirees.

Over the past decade in Europe, the number of companies with complex corporate and financing structures has increased to levels unseen at any time in history. While efforts have been made by the European Union and various jurisdictions to improve their restructuring and insolvency regimes, restructuring practitioners and their clients have had to extend the boundaries of what was supposed to be possible in order to restructure corporate groups' balance sheets in a manner that is reflective of value and that preserves the going concern. This publication brings together Europe's leading restructuring lawyers who were and remain instrumental in shaping the way that European restructurings are conducted and implemented today. Each chapter is a detailed case study, by key lawyers centrally involved, on leading restructurings including McCarthy & Stone, IMO Carwash, Monier, Countrywide, Truvo, Autodistribution, SGD, La Seda de Barcelona, Schoeller Arca Systems, Risanamento SpA, Almatis, WIND Hellas, European Directories and Rodenstock. This practical handbook represents an unprecedented record of the leading restructurings of the era by those involved and leads the reader through each in detail, unlike any other publication to date. It is an invaluable tool for restructuring and insolvency practitioners throughout Europe.

This book focuses on Fintech regulation in Asian, situating local developments in broader economic, regulatory and technological contexts. Over the last decade, Fintech - broadly defined as the use of new information technologies to help financial institutions and intermediaries compete in the marketplace - has disrupted the financial services sector. Like other 21st century technological developments, Fintech is a global phenomenon that plays out in local economic, political and regulatory contexts, and this dynamic interplay between global trends and local circumstances has created a complex and fast-changing landscape. Diverse stakeholders (most obviously incumbent financial service providers, tech start-ups and regulators) all pursue a competitive edge against a background of profound uncertainty about the future direction and possible effects of multiple emerging technologies. Compounding these difficulties are uncertainties surrounding regulatory responses. Policymakers often struggle to identify appropriate regulatory responses and increasingly turn to policy experimentation. Such issues add to the challenges for the various actors operating in the Fintech space. This situation is particularly fluid in Asia, since many jurisdictions are seeking to establish themselves as a regional hub for new financial services.

This book examines the contemporary production of economic value in today's financial economies. Much of the regulatory response to the global financial crisis has been based on the assumption that curbing the speculative 'excesses' of the financial sphere is a necessary and sufficient condition for restoring a healthy economic system, endowed with real values, as distinct from those produced by financial markets. How, though, can the 'intrinsic' value of goods and services produced in the sphere of the so-called real economy be disentangled from the 'artificial' value engineered within the financial sphere? Examining current projects of international legal regulation, this book questions the regulation of the financial sphere insofar as its excesses are juxtaposed to some notion of economic normality. Given the problem of neatly distinguishing these domains - and so, more generally, between economy and society, and production and social reproduction - it considers the limits of our current conceptualization of value production and measurement, with specific reference to arrangements in the areas of finance, trade and labour. Drawing on a range of innovative work in the social sciences, and attentive to the spatial and temporal connections that make the global economy, as well as the racial, gender and class articulations of the social reproductive field within it, it further asks: what alternative arrangements might be able to affect, and indeed alter, the value-making processes that underlie our current international regulatory framework?

This book sails in uncharted waters. It takes a human rights-based approach to tax havens, and is a detailed analysis of structures and the laws that generate and support these. It makes plain the unscrupulous or merely indifferent ways in which, using tax havens, businesses and individuals systematically undermine and for all practical purposes eliminate access to remedies under international human rights law. It exposes as abusive of human rights a complex structural web of trusts, companies, partnerships, foundations, nominees and fiduciaries; secrecy, immunity and smoke screens. It also lays bare the cynical manipulation by tax havens of traditional legal forms and conventions, and the creation of entities so bizarre and chimeric that they defy classification. Yet from the perspective of the tax havens themselves, these are entirely legitimate; the product of duly enacted domestic laws. This book is not a work of investigative journalism in the style of the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of The Panama Papers, exposing political or financial corruption, money laundering or the financing of terrorism. All those elements are present of course, but the focus is on international human rights and how tax havens do not merely facilitate but actively connive at their breach. The tax havens are compromising the international human rights legal continuum.

This short monograph examines the tense relationship between central bank independence and democratic legitimation, which has changed as the European Central Bank (ECB) has been entrusted with new tasks and faced unprecedented challenges. The financial and sovereign debt crisis, in particular, has affected the ECB's position within the Economic and Monetary Union without substantial changes in the Union's legal framework. However, the evolution of an institution primarily obligated to maintain price stability into an actor involved in sustaining financial stability, performing banking supervision and supporting economic policy raises the question of whether the high level of autonomy granted to the ECB is justified with regard to the principle of democracy that demands adequate accountability and control. This book identifies requirements for the democratic legitimation of central bank action in relation to specific tasks. Further, it analyses other scales of independence encountered in EU law in order to allow readers to gain a better conceptual understanding of central bank independence.

Over the last ten years mobile payment systems have revolutionised banking in some countries in Africa. In Kenya the introduction of M-Pesa, a new financial services model, has transformed the banking and financial services industry. Giving the unbanked majority access to the financial services market it has attracted over 18 million subscribers which is remarkable given that fewer than 4 million people in Kenya have bank accounts. This book addresses the legal and regulatory issues arising out of the introduction of M-Pesa in Kenya and its drive towards financial inclusion. It considers the interaction between regulation and technological innovation with a particular focus on the regulatory tools, institutional arrangements and government decisional processes through the examination as a whole of its regulatory capacity. This is done with a view to understanding the regulatory capacity of Kenya in addressing the vulnerabilities presented by technological innovation in the financial industry for consumers after financial inclusion. It also examines the way that mobile payments have been regulated by criticising the piecemeal approach that the Central Bank of Kenya has taken in addressing the legal and regulatory issues presented by mobile payments. The book argues there are significant gaps in the regulatory regime of mobile banking in Kenya.

As a result of resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macao as well as the uncertain relationship between the Mainland and Taiwan, China has become a country composed of peculiar political compounds, resulting in four independent jurisdictions. This makes inter-regional legal cooperation a complicated yet compelling topic. Divided into five parts, this book considers possible solutions to problems in China's inter-regional cross-border insolvency cooperation. These solutions are developed on the basis of two groups of comparative studies, including comparison among the cross-border insolvency systems of the four independent jurisdictions in China and comparison between EU Insolvency Regulation and the UNCITRAL Model Law. The author discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the two systems and presents original recommendations for the way forward. The book will be a valuable resource for academics and policy makers in insolvency law, Asian law and comparative law.

This text looks at rulemaking in one of the most important areas of economic life - financial services. The book has three main aims: first, to build a jurisprudential and linguistic analysis of rules and interpretation, drawing out the implication of these analyses and developing quality proposals for how rules could be used as instruments of regulation. Second, it interprets that analysis and set of proposals with an empirical study of the formation and use of rules in a particular regulatory system - financial services, and third, it evaluates the nature of the rulemaking process. The authors main case study, examining the use of self-regulation in the financial services sector, complements the detailed analysis of rule formation and uses.

Controlling Capital examines three pressing issues in financial market regulation: the contested status of public regulation, the emergence of 'culture' as a proposed modality of market governance, and the renewed ascendancy of private regulation. In the years immediately following the outbreak of crisis in financial markets, public regulation seemed almost to be attaining a position of command - the robustness and durability of which is explored here in respect of market conduct, European Union capital markets union, and US and EU competition policies. Subsequently there has been a softening of command and a return to public-private co-regulation, positioned within a narrative on culture. The potential and limits of culture as a regulatory resource are unpacked here in respect of occupational and organisational aspects, stakeholder connivance and wider political embeddedness. Lastly the book looks from both appreciative and critical perspectives at private regulation, through financial market associations, arbitration of disputes and, most controversially, market 'policing' by hedge funds. Bringing together a distinguished group of international experts, this book will be a key text for all those concerned with issues arising at the intersection of financial markets, law, culture and governance.

International Natural Resources Law, Investment and Sustainability provides a clear and concise insight into the relationship between the institutions that govern foreign investment, sustainable development and the rules and regulations that administer natural resources. In this book, several leading experts explore different perspectives in how investment and natural resources come together to achieve sustainable development in developing countries with examples from water, oil and gas, renewable energy, mineral, agriculture, and carbon trading. Despite varying perspectives, it is clear that several themes are central in considering the linkages between natural resources, investment and sustainability. Specifically, transparency, good governance and citizen empowerment are vital conditions which encourage positive social, economic and environmental outcomes for developing countries. In addition, this book provides new insights into key concepts which underpin international law, including sovereign rights and state responsibility principles. It is clear from this book that in the attempt to reconcile these concepts and principles from separate legal regimes, complex policy questions emerge whereby it is difficult to attain mutually beneficial or succinct outcomes. This book explores how countries prioritise their policy objectives to achieve their notion of sustainable natural resource use, which is strongly influenced by power imbalances that inform North-South cooperation, as well as South-South cooperation in the international investment regime. This book will be of great interest to students, academics and researchers of international environmental law, international human rights law, international investment law and international economic law. This book may also be of relevance to environmentalists, policy-makers, NGOs, and investors working in the natural resources field.

Provides a systematic assessment of FSB operations, from standard setting to implementation review in order to identify the power wielded by government networks in global financial governance. Develops a novel theory of legislative reluctance as a limit to the power of government networks, showing its strong inferential leverage in comparison with a variety of competing explanations drawn from economics, political science, and law. Engages in the debate on the role of government networks in global governance with a well-founded but controversial argument that questions the role of national parliaments in managing global economic affairs in the public interest. Suggests a novel institutional solution to the effectiveness-legitimacy dilemma that global governance forums face, combining the advantages of functional specialization and electoral accountability.

The work draws conclusions of the fourth conference in a series on the subject of "too big to fail", hosted by the Institute for Law and Finance at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main on April 23, 2018. It presents the views of key European Union officials as well as senior executives from the financial sector on where Europe stands in this crucial area.

The Law and Economics approach to law dominates the intellectual discussion of nearly every doctrinal area of law in the United States and its influence is growing steadily throughout Europe, Asia, and South America. Numerous academics and practitioners are working in the field with a flow of uninterrupted scholarship that is unprecedented, as is its influence on the law. Academically every major law school in the United States has a Law and Economics program and the emergence of similar programs on other continents continues to accelerate. Despite its phenomenal growth, the area is also the target of an ongoing critique by lawyers, philosophers, psychologists, social scientists, even economists since the late 1970s. While the critique did not seem to impede the development of the field, it certainly has helped it to become more sophisticated, inclusive, and mature. In this volume some of the leading scholars working in the field, as well as a number of those critical of Law and Economics, discuss the foundational issues from various perspectives: philosophical, moral, epistemological, methodological, psychological, political, legal, and social. The philosophical and methodological assumptions of the economic analysis of law are criticized and defended, alternatives are proposed, old and new applications are discussed. The book is ideal for a main or supplementary textbook in courses and seminars on legal theory, philosophy of law, jurisprudence, and (of course) Law and Economics.

'This is a very timely book that addresses an important subject, namely, attempts to harmonise the law governing secured transactions. The focus is on UNCITRAL and its Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions. Professor McCormack has written a provocative book that challenges existing orthodoxy. It is a stimulus for critical thinking and is essential reading for those interested in the subject. It also provides an informed account of the workings of UNCITRAL, contains much valuable material on harmonisation and uniformity, and displays a thorough grounding in the theoretical literature.' -Michael Bridge, London School of Economics, UK'Professor McCormack has taken the challenge to write a truly original book about secured transactions, which is rather good news when so many publications seem to rehash the same ideas. He is not afraid to tackle questions usually ignored by lawyers, such as the political aspects of harmonisation of law. This should challenge all involved to seriously re-examine the premises on the basis of which they work.' - Frederique Dahan, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development This is a discerning analysis of international harmonization efforts for secured credit law and examines the role of globalization and finance capital in shaping such efforts. Gerard McCormack reveals how an 'efficient' law is often seen to increase the availability, and lower the cost, of credit, thereby contributing to international development. He considers whether the most comprehensive international standard the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Legislative Guide (2008) is actually suitable for adoption at the national level. In particular, he examines the hypothesis that American law and lawyers have shaped the content of the guide to the extent that it is not suitable for translation into other laws. This book will be of great interest to practitioners, policy makers and academics, as well as students, particularly postgraduate students, of law and business throughout the world. Contents: Preface 1. Introduction 2. The Case for Harmonising and Modernising the Law of International Trade 3. Harmonising and Modernising Secured Transactions Law 4. National Models and Replication Across International Frontiers Article 9 of the American Uniform Commercial Law and the English Common Law 5. International Harmonisation Efforts Before the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide 6. The UNCITRAL Secured Transactions Guide 7. The Insolvency Legislative Guide 8. Conclusion Index

The 2008 financial crisis has become one of the defining features of the twenty first century's first decade. The series of events which unfolded in the aftermath of the crisis has exposed major structural flaws in many of the financial systems around the globe, triggering a global call for legal and regulatory reforms to address the problems that have been uncovered. This book deals with a neglected angle of the 2008 financial crisis looking in-depth at the implicit effects of the 2008 crisis on the UK financial market. The book considers new trends in finance which have emerged since the crisis as well as the challenges faced by some older practices in the UK financial markets. After providing a reflective account of the history of law and creditors in the UK the book investigates the proliferation of certain forms of financing that have recently become very visible parts of the UK financial market's structure, such as high cost short term lending and peer to peer lending. It provides legal and economic accounts of these forms of alternative lending, charting their developments, current status and critically assesses their impact on the UK financial market. Also examined are the ongoing funding difficulties faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the suitability of the UK current legal framework to support these institutions. The book goes on to look at the viability and safety of some other post crisis trends such as banks use of Contingent Convertible Bonds (CoCos) to improve their resilience.

Bank Regulation: Effects on Strategy, Financial Accounting and Management Control discusses and problematizes how regulation is affecting bank strategies as well as their financial accounting and management control systems. Following a period of bank de-regulation, the new millennium brought a drastic change, with many new regulations. Some of these are the result of the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Other regulations, such as the introduction in 2005 of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for quoted companies in the EU, can be related to the introduction of a new global accounting regime. It is evident from annual reports of banks that the number of new regulations in recent years is high and that they cover many different functional areas. The objectives of these regulations are also ambitious; to improve governance and control, contributing to a high level of financial stability for banks. These objectives are obviously of great concern for an industry that directly and indirectly affects the financial situation not only of individuals and organizations but also nation states. Considering the importance of banks in society, it is of little surprise that the attention of both scholars and practitioners has been directed towards how banks comply with new regulations and if the intended objectives of the regulations are met. This book will be of great value to all those interested in financial stability matters (practitioners, policy-makers, students, academics), as well as to accounting and finance scholars.

Many commentators, regulatory agencies and politicians have blamed the risky behaviour of both financial institutions and their actors for the collapse of the United States sub-prime mortgage market which in turn precipitated the global 'Credit Crunch'. This edited volume explores how financial crime played a significant role in the global economic crisis. The volume features contributions from internationally renowned academic and practitioner experts in the field who pinpoint some of the most important facets of financial crime which have emerged over recent years. Key subjects include: the possibility of criminalising reckless risk-taking on the financial markets; the duty of banks to prevent money-laundering and corruption; the growth of the Shadow Banking System; and the manipulation of LIBOR by banks. The book illustrates the global nature of financial crime, and highlights the complex relationships between regulatory bodies, law enforcement agencies and private actors in the attempt to limit the harmful effect of white collar crime on the stability of the financial sector. This book will be of great use and interest to scholars, practitioners and students within the field of financial crime, banking and finance law, and international political economy.

This book, first published in 1988, argues that a close inspection of the development of Hanafite law in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods reveals changes in legal doctrine which were not restricted to civil transactions but also concerned the public law. It focuses in particular on the interrelated areas of property, rent and taxation of arable lands, arguing that changes in the relationship between tax and rent led to a redefinition of the concept of landed property, a concept at the very heart of the Islamic legal system. This title will be of particular interest to students of Islamic history.

In light of on-going global financial crises, the institutional structure of financial regulation is currently a subject of significant academic and practical interest. The financial crisis has called into question the adequacy of financial regulation at the national and supranational levels, and has instigated financial regulatory reforms in major markets overseas. This has included the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act in the US, and the programme to split the Financial Services Authority in the UK. This book examines the institutional structure reform of financial regulation from a comparative perspective, exploring both fundamental theories and international experiences. The book explores the three main institutional structures of financial regulation in the world; the sectors-based model, adopted in the US, Mainland China and Hong Kong; the twin-peaks model with Australia and the Netherlands as its pioneers; and the single-regulator model as represented by the former Financial Services Authority in the UK and the Financial Services Agency in Japan. The book contains contributions from renowned experts in the field of financial regulation including Douglas Arner, Jeffrey Carmichael, Robin Hui Huang, Dirk Schoenmaker, and Michael Taylor, and will be of interest to students and researchers of banking and finance law, and comparative economics.

- Unique, practical text that gives step-by-step guidance in a growing area of legal practice - Supported by real-life examples, study questions, and multiple choice questions online. - Author is a practising attorney specialising in bankruptcy law, as well as an experience lecturer at a range of US institutions.