This comprehensive Research Handbook provides an in-depth analysis of the different financial law approaches, legal systems and trends throughout Asia. Considering how reforms following the crises have been critical for the development and growth of the region, this insightful book explores a broad range of post-crisis financial regulatory issues. It also examines how inconsistent and divergent approaches to financial market regulation are curtailing the region's potential. By focusing on the legal frameworks and regulatory models at a national level, this innovative Research Handbook addresses opportunities and challenges for financial markets and convergence in the region. Key topics include the different legal and regulatory approaches to common issues, such as banking regulation and resolution, FinTech, insolvency frameworks and ASEAN financial market integration. Specific regulatory approaches are discussed in relation to areas such as Renminbi internationalization, Islamic banking and finance, shadow banking, crowdfunding, venture capital, derivatives, bond and securities markets. The book concludes with an analysis of the impact of FinTech on regulatory convergence in Asia. The Research Handbook on Asian Financial Law will be of great value to law students, academics and policymakers working across a diverse range of fields including financial regulation, Asian studies, banking resolution and insolvency. Contributors include: D. Arner, J. Barberis, L. Bromberg, S. Butt, A. Chan, C. Chen, V. Chen, H. Dervan, D. Donald, D. Elms, S. Gao, E. Gibson, A. Godwin, S.i Han, L.C. Hang, C. Hofmann, I.R. Ibrahim, S. Jensen, S. Kourabas, T. Lindsey, T. Morishita, D. Neo, M.H. Nguyen, I. Ramsay, W. Shen, T. Srinopnikom, S. Steele, N.N. Thani, C.-h. Tsai, W.Y. Wan, C. Watters, C. Xi

In the last two decades the Tokyo Stock Exchange implemented several important reforms in regulations, market trading mechanisms, and IT trading systems. In this book we analyze the impact of the evolution of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), at the same time discussing reforms in stock trading by related accounting standards and legal regulations. With daily stock return and market microstructure data, we analyze how these reforms have significantly influenced the pricing structure and price discovery process of traded stocks, as well as the trading style of institutional investors, individual investors, and high frequency traders. The research methodology we employ is primarily standard market microstructure tests as well as methods used in conventional empirical financial economics. We simultaneously use the most relevant concepts in these fields for our empirical tests and provide a comprehensive picture of trading, price discovery, pricing structure, and public vs. private information dissemination.

This monograph explores the historical position of pensions law in the UK and the recent influences which have led to the introduction of Auto-Enrolment and subsequent reforms. Alternative models, such as the US and Australia, are also considered as well as the function of law in bringing about political changes. The question of saving for retirement is of national and international importance and many governments are wrestling with the issue of how to deal with the pension funding crisis. Consequently political policy has, in many cases, combined with behavioural science to inform new laws which have acted to shift the burden from the state into the private sector. Around the world responsibility is being moved onto individuals and employers as the state retreats from provision of state support in retirement; this book offers a sophisticated analysis of the role of legal intervention to facilitate this shift. The book explores the work of behavioural economics, its global influence on understanding financial decision-making and its application to legislation which seeks to influence consumer outcomes. Drawing on qualitative empirical research to explore the experience of implementation of Auto-Enrolment, this timely work considers the interaction with the work of behavioural science to highlight the social costs of the new regulatory regime.

The spate of mis-selling episodes that have plagued the financial services industries in recent years has caused widespread detriment to investors. Notwithstanding numerous regulatory interventions, curtailing the incidence of poor investment advice remains a challenge for regulators, particularly because these measures are taken in a 'fire-fighting' fashion without adequate consideration being given to the root causes of mis-selling. Against this backdrop, this book focuses on the sale of complex investment products to corporate retail investors by drawing upon the widespread mis-selling of interest rate hedging products (IRHP) in the UK and beyond. It brings to the fore the relatively understudied field concerning the different degrees of investor protection mechanisms applicable to individual retail investors - as opposed to corporate retail investors - by taking stock of past regulatory reforms and forthcoming regulatory initiatives as well as, more importantly, the conclusions reached by the judiciary in IRHP mis-selling claims. The conclusions are particularly interesting: corporate retail investors are in a vulnerable position when compared to individual retail investors. The former are exposed to a heightened risk of mis-selling, meaning that regulatory intervention should be targeted accordingly. The recommendations made as a result of these findings are further supported by insights emerging from behavioural law and economic theories. This book is aimed at researchers, lawyers and students with an interest in the financial regulation field who are keen to explore potential regulatory reforms to the investment services regime that address the root causes of mis-selling, and restore a level playing field amongst all retail investors.

Exchanges play an essential and central role in the world's economy. They epitomize transparency in the price-formation process, informing investors and disseminating vital information for the functioning of financial markets, and in so doing they represent an important source of capital for nascent and established companies alike. Even during the recent crisis, exchanges remained open and liquid in the face of extreme volatility-thus the trust investors place in regulated exchanges when confronted with uncertainty is beyond doubt.
Since the inception of the World Federation of Exchanges in the 1960s, the operational and competitive landscape for organized exchanges has changed radically. Technology and globalization have allowed financial flows to move freely across borders, and burgeoning competition and lower regulatory barriers have spurred far-reaching transformations in the way securities are traded.
Against this background, and on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the World Federation of Exchanges, the WFE has partnered with Larry Harris and the Centre for European Policy Studies to produce a definitive volume of essays to take a look at the historic role exchanges have played in the global economy, highlighting pivotal innovations that shaped this role, and to lay out prospective ways in which exchanges will continue to shape the global economy in the future. Opening with key conceptual essays by leading academics, Regulated Exchanges examines the historical contribution of exchanges to the world's economic growth, exchanges' economic importance, and the regulatory characteristics of the space in which exchanges operate. The volume then presents essays on several defining milestones in the history of exchanges written by leading figures that took part in that very history, showing the interaction between the founding of exchanges, local cultures, and world financial markets. The book appropriately closes with a look forward, examining the competitive landscape and the exciting and promising future of regulated exchanges.
Offering an unparalleled collection of perspectives from leading academics and practitioners involved in the history of exchanges, Regulated Exchanges sheds a brilliant and welcome light on how exchanges have influenced and fostered successful financial markets, and how they will do so for many years to come.

This book surveys the development of laws surrounding the crime of money laundering and the associated changes in the anti-money laundering (AML) industry. The policy of attempting to deal with crime by attacking its financial products started in the arena of drugs, but quickly moved to organised crime, terrorism, corruption and tax. Now the focus has shifted once again to organised crime and to immigration. In the wake of the failure of the 'war on drugs' a huge amount of money is now being spent on a global surveillance and reporting system, and we do not know whether the system works or not. What Went Wrong With Money Laundering Law? documents the events which, taken independently, could each be seen as rational responses to specific problems and as incremental adjustments to the focus of the law. Taken together, however, it is demonstrated that they have led to significant changes in the law and to the current situation. Underlying the entire AML industry is the crime of money laundering, which, having been devised more to provide a trigger for the reporting machinery than to describe and condemn a particular category of harmful behaviour, is now being used in a far wider range of cases than is appropriate. This book will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners of criminal and financial law, socio-legal studies and criminology.

This book provides a definition and classification for Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) and discusses its phenomenon within the law context. It identifies the rules applicable to SWFs and to states hosting SWFs' investments. In eight extensive chapters, Fabio Bassan considers whether SWFs may enjoy immunity with respect to host state measures, and whether SWFs can use alternative forms of protection in Bilateral Investment Treaties. Written from an international law perspective, The Law of Sovereign Wealth Funds will appeal to students of international business, international organisations, banks and governments.

A newly admitted lawyer needs sufficient knowledge and skill to maintain trust and office accounts in accordance with the law and good practice. With much space dedicated to practice transactions and specimen accounts, there is plenty of opportunity for readers to become familiar with the major areas of the trust account, controlled money and office records. This new edition explains important changes brought about the 2004 Legal Profession Act and the 2005 Legal Profession Regulation. Written for practitioners and students of degree or diploma courses in law and practical legal training, this text will quash all qualms about book-keeping.

As the proverbial workhorse of international economic law, investment arbitration is heavily relied upon around the globe. It has to cope with the demands of increasingly complex proceedings. At the same time, investment arbitration has come under close public scrutiny in the midst of heated political debate. Both of these factors have led to the field of investment protection being subject to continuous changes. Therefore, it presents an abundance of challenges in its interpretation and application. While these challenges are often deeply rooted in the doctrinal foundations of international law, they similarly surface during live arbitral proceedings. International Challenges in Investment Arbitration serves not only as a collection of recently debated issues in investment law; it also deals with the underlying fundamental questions at the intersection of investment arbitration and international law. The book is the product of the 1st Bucerius Law Journal Conference on International Investment Law & Arbitration. It combines the current state of knowledge, new perspectives on the topic as well as practical issues and will be of interest to researchers, academics and practitioners in the fields of international investment law, international economic law, regulation and comparative law.

This volume containsthe reports and discussions presented at the conference "The Future of Secured Credit in Europe" in Munich from July 12th to July 14th, 2007. It aims at taking the debate to a new stage by exploring the need and possible avenues for creating a European law of security interests. The first part examines - from an economic and a community law perspective - the case for European lawmaking on secured credit and the legislative approach to be taken. The intention in the second and third part is to look in more detail at the choices European lawmakers will have to make in devising a European law of secured credit. The second part focuses on secured transactions involving corporeal movables (tangibles), whereas the third part considers categories of collateral that may require special rules.

Sustainable development remains a high priority in international politics and commerce. This timely book explores how the contours and facets of economic, environmental and social sustainability are reflected in the legal norms that govern trade, investment and finance. Examining a range of issues arising from private initiatives, national conduct and international organisations, the chapters interrogate the role of powerful global actors in the pursuit of sustainable development: China, the United States and the EU are all recognised as significant actors in a wider context of global partnership. The authors identify and investigate challenges to the realisation of a coherent sustainable development policy, engaging with the complex interactions of international, regional and national mechanisms that pose significant problems for the future of the planet, its people and their prosperity. Offering interdisciplinary insights on legal frameworks through the lens of sustainability, this discerning book will appeal to a range of academics interested in sustainability, trade, investment and finance, while also offering crucial insights for policy-makers into specific areas of regulation.

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.

Every day around the globe, businesses seek out equity capital. From young, entrepreneurial growth companies to mature global businesses, working capital is required to run, sustain and grow your business. As the world shrinks due to enhanced communication through technology, the choices available to companies in search of equity expand. For the advisers guiding those companies, the alternative markets that can be recommended increase year on year. World Stock Exchanges: A Practical Guide, 2nd Ed seeks to assist those who may be interested in the equity markets in analysing the choices available to them. This new edition features fully updated contributions from leading practitioners in the field in a selection of major markets, including Australia, China, Dubai, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Whether you are comparing the relative merits of floating a company on NASDAQ or the London Stock Exchange, in China or in Singapore, on Euronext or OMX, this new edition will be an extremely helpful source of information. Intermediaries, banks and corporate finance advisers, brokers, sponsors, lawyers and accountants will find it highly relevant and informative in analysing the key criteria applying to major stock exchanges around the world. For market practitioners, it will be an essential addition to their library.

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.

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.

'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 book deals with contemporary issues in financial regulation, given the post-crisis regulatory landscape. The major idea put forward is that rampant corruption and fraud in the financial sector provide the main justification for financial regulation. Specific issues that are dealt with include the proposition that the Efficient Market Hypothesis was both a cause and a casualty of the global financial crisis. The book also examines the regulation of remuneration in the financial sector, credit rating agencies and shadow banking. Also considered is financial reform in Iceland and the proposal to move away from fractional reserve banking to a system of sovereign money. A macroeconomic/regulatory issue that is also considered is quantitative easing and the resulting environment of ultra-low interest rates.

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.

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.

Regulation and Deregulation is a revised version of papers presented at the Oxford Law Colloquium held at St John's College, Oxford, in March 1998. The Colloquium, organised by the Norton Rose M5 Group and the Faculty of Law of the University of Oxford, provided a meeting place for discussion between practitioners and academics interested in regulation. This book makes available to a wider audience the fruits of those discussions. Current themes in the debate about how best to regulate are explored, concentrating in particular on the regulation of utilities and of the banking and financial services industry. Regulation and deregulation are of considerable, and increasing, importance in Britain and the wider world. This stimulating book will be welcomed by practising and academic lawyers in the regulations field, especially those concerned with the books particular areas of focus.

Financial regulation can fail when it is needed the most. The dynamics of asset price bubbles weaken financial regulation just as financial markets begin to overheat and the risk of crisis spikes. At the same time, the failure of financial regulations adds further fuel to a bubble. This book examines the interaction of bubbles and financial regulation. It explores the ways in which bubbles lead to the failure of financial regulation by outlining five dynamics, which it collectively labels the "Regulatory Instability Hypothesis." . The book concludes by outlining approaches to make financial regulation more resilient to these dynamics that undermine law.

In recent years the field of finance has exploded with innovation. New products, services and techniques abound. The risks of inflation, the volatility of interest rates, the deregulation of financial intermediaries and the unbundling of financial services have combined to present investment managers with challenges and opportunities far greater than in the past. For trustees and managers of pension, trust, endowment, and similar funds, the task of meeting the challenges and exploiting the opportunities is much more difficult. These fiduciaries must measure their investment decisions against constrained interpretations of a legal standard--the prudent man rule--that have caused it to lag far behind changes in investment theory and the marketplace. Drawing on financial history, a major opinion survey of institutional investors, and comprehensive reviews of the law and of the lessons of modern portfolio theory for prudence, this book presents a powerful case that the prudent man rule as elaborated in legal treatises and much of the case law would virtually compel a fiduciary to act imprudently in terms of financial theory and marketplace reality. In proposing a modern paradigm of investment prudence, the book uses illustrations drawn from such traditionally suspect categories of investment fiduciaries as securities lending, real estate, venture capital, options and futures and repurchaser agreements. An unusual examination of the interaction of the worlds of law and finance, this work will be of interest to fiduciaries who are subject to some from of prudent man rule and all others, including judges, lawyers and investment managers, who are called upon to interpret and apply that legal standard.

Financial markets have become acknowledged as a source of crisis, and discussion of them has shifted from economics, through legal and regulatory studies, to politics. Events from 2008 onwards raise important, cross-disciplinary questions: must financial markets drive states into political and existential crisis, must public finances take over private losses, must citizens endure austerity? This book argues that there is an alternative. If the financial system were less 'connected', contagion within the market would be reduced and crises would become more localised and intermittent, less global and pervasive. The question then becomes how to reduce connectedness within financial markets. This book argues that the democratic direction of financial market policies can deliver this. Politicising financial market policies - taking discussion of these issues out of the sphere of the 'technical' and putting it into the same democratically contested space as, for example, health and welfare policies - would encourage differing policies to emerge in different countries. Diversity of regulatory regimes would result in some business models being attracted to some jurisdictions, others to others. The resulting heterogeneity, when viewed from a global perspective, would be a reversal of recent and current tendencies towards one single/global 'level playing field', within which all financial firms and sectors have become closely connected and across which contagion inevitably reigns. No doubt the democratisation of financial market policy would be opposed by big firms - their interests being served by regulatory convergence - and considered macabre by some financial regulators and central bankers, who are coalescing into an elite community. However, everyone else, Nicholas Dorn argues here, would be better off in a financial world characterised by greater diversity.

Accountants play an increasingly important and diverse role in society today. Traditionally, in the UK, accountants are the first port of call for businessmen seeking any form of professional advice or assistance. They undertake a wide range of functions which stretch far beyond their traditional roles of preparing accounts, financial reporting, auditing, and tax planning. Today, accountants also offer management consultancy, give corporate finance advice, provide company secretarial services, undertake financial management, give personal finance advice, advise on computer software, and act as trustees in bankruptcy, liquidators, administrative receivers, and administrators. This major work provides UK legal practitioners and accountants with clear and practical guidance from non-contentious but vital governance issues, to the complex issues pertaining to professional negligence. The book's 6 checklists and 32 precedents guide the reader through the key topics: partnership creation, cl