Secured transactions law has been subjected to a close scrutiny over the last two decades. One of the main reasons for this is the importance of availability of credit and the consequent need to reform collateral laws in order to improve access to finance. The ability to give security effectively influences not only the cost of credit but also, in some cases, whether credit will be available at all. This requires rules that are transparent and readily accessible to non-lawyers as well as rules that recognise the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. This book critically engages with the challenges posed by inefficient secured credit laws. It offers a comparative analysis of the reasons and the needs for a secured transactions law reform, as well as discussion of the steps taken in many common law, civil law and mixed law jurisdictions. The book, written under the auspices of the Secured Transactions Law Reform Project, informs the debate about reform and advances novel arguments written by world renowned experts that will build upon the existing literature, and as such will be of interest to academics, legal practitioners and the judiciary involved in secured transactions law around the world. The text considers reform initiatives that have taken place up to the end of April 2016. It has not been possible to incorporate events since then into the discussion. However, notable developments include the banks decree passed by the Italian Government on 29th June 2016, and the adoption of the Model Law on Secured Transactions by UNCITRAL on 1st July 2016.

This book attempts to address why central bank independence still lacks certain vital attributes which embody adequate governance and accountability mechanisms - which are necessary if better results in relation to longer term economic and political objectives, in particular, are to be achieved. As well as a consideration of why the lender of last resort facility should be used for emergency situations and systemically relevant institutions in particular, an interesting point which will be considered in this publication is the comparison between the European Central Bank (ECB) Recommendation and its application by the Commission in the Re capitalisation Communication, specifically with its Annex, where the Commission explains how it determines the price of equity or own funds (ordinary or common shares) - balancing the "real value" with the "market value" within a crisis context. This publication will also consider how to transform financial crises into opportunities whereby tax burdens to taxpayers are minimised - as well as making financial markets more efficient. Given the scale of government intervention and State rescues which occurred during the recent crisis - as well as the prominence accorded to measures aimed at preventing and limiting distortions of competition, calls have been made for competition authorities to take on more formidable roles in designing and implementing exit strategies. In order to foster competition as much as possible, it is proposed that "governments should provide financial institutions with incentives to prevent them from depending on government support once the economy begins to recover."

The financial system and its regulation have undergone exponential growth and dramatic reform over the last thirty years. This period has witnessed major developments in the nature and intensity of financial markets, as well as repeated cycles of regulatory reform and development, often linked to crisis conditions. The recent financial crisis has led to unparalleled interest in financial regulation from policymakers, economists, legal practitioners, and the academic community, and has prompted large-scale regulatory reform. The Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation is the first comprehensive, authoritative, and state of the art account of the nature of financial regulation. Written by an international team of leading scholars in the field, it takes a contextual and comparative approach to examine scholarly, policy, and regulatory developments in the past three decades. The first three parts of the Handbook address the underpinning horizontal themes which arise in financial regulation: financial systems and regulation; the organization of financial system regulation, including regional examples from the EU and the US; and the delivery of outcomes and regulatory techniques. The final three Parts address the perennial objectives of financial regulation, widely regarded as the anchors of financial regulation internationally: financial stability, market efficiency, integrity, and transparency; and consumer protection. The Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of financial regulation, economists, policy-makers and regulators.