This book defines the nature and scope of insider problems as viewed by the financial industry. This edited volume is based on the first workshop on Insider Attack and Cyber Security, IACS 2007. The workshop was a joint effort from the Information Security Departments of Columbia University and Dartmouth College. The book sets an agenda for an ongoing research initiative to solve one of the most vexing problems encountered in security, and a range of topics from critical IT infrastructure to insider threats. In some ways, the insider problem is the ultimate security problem.
Regulation of insider trading has changed dramatically in the past few years. In reaction to highly publicized insider trading scandals and the internationalization of securities markets, all European countries have recently either strengthened their existing rules (France and the United Kingdom) or implemented new rules (Denmark, Greece, The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Italy). The United States continues to refine its insider trading regulations, and Japan has recently enacted legislation in this field. As a result of the increasingly international nature of insider trading, supervisory authorities throughout the world now closely coordinate their efforts. Drawing from the experience of law professors, governmental officials and practising lawyers, this book explores the regulations of eighteen countries in Europe, the United States and Japan, as well as the EC Directive Coordinating Regulations on Insider Dealing, and the Council of Europe's Convention on Insider Trading. This book is an indispensable tool for practising lawyers, legislators, academics, and international business and finance professionals. Combining legal doctrine and practical information, it analyzes, for each legal system, how insider trading is defined and controlled. Further, it addresses other stock-related infractions and international law issues such as jurisdiction and international cooperation.
"The rise over the last two decades of a powerful new class of billionaire financiers marks a singular shift in the American economic and political landscape. Their vast reserves of concentrated wealth have allowed a small group of big winners to write their own rules of capitalism and public policy. How did we get here? ... Kolhatkar shows how Steve Cohen became one of the richest and most influential figures in finance--and what happened when the Justice Department put him in its crosshairs"--Amazon.com.
Insider trading has long been considered an endemic feature of the world's financial markets. It is unsurprising that the recent growth in mergers and acquisitions worldwide has been accompanied by a growth in insider trading, on a scale not witnessed since the 1980's takeovers boom. Insider Trading: Global Developments and Analysis brings together the latest law and finance research on insider trading. It provides expert coverage on the established US, European, and Asia-Pacific securities markets, as well as the key emerging markets of Brazil and the greater China region. Providing high interest and up-to-date content, the book features several recent cases, including that of Martha Stewart.
This paper studies the role of insider trading in explaining cross-country differences in stock market volatility. The central finding is that countries with more prevalent insider trading have more volatile stock markets, even after one controls for liquidity/maturity of the market and the volatility of the underlying fundamentals (volatility of real output and of monetary and fiscal policies). Moreover, the effect of insider trading is quantitively significant when compared with the effect of economic fundamentals.
Effective corporate reporting and disclosure are critical in financial markets to promote vigorous competition, optimal performance, and transparency. This book examines whether existing disclosure frameworks in eight countries with the world's most significant securities exchanges achieve these objectives, and then, drawing on extensive empirical findings, identifies the policies and practices that contribute most to improving the overall quality of listed company reporting and communication. Contending that public disclosure of listed company information is an essential precondition to the long-term efficient operation of financial markets, the book provides analysis of such issues and topics as the following: - arguments for and against mandatory disclosure regimes; - key principles of periodic and continuous disclosure regulation; - tensions between direct and indirect investment in financial markets; - assumptions concerning the need to maintain a privileged role for financial intermediaries; - intermediary, analyst, and research incentives; - protection of individual investors; - selective disclosure; - disclosure of bad news; - the role of accounting standards; - public access to company briefings; - long term performance reporting and analysis; and - company reporting developments. A significant portion of the book provides an overview of disclosure regulation and practice in the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore. A highly informative survey looks at company reports, disclosures, and websites of large listed companies, including Microsoft, Citigroup, Teck Resources, Deutsche Bank, BP, Sony, PetroChina Company, BHP Billiton, and Singapore Telecommunications. The book discusses common disclosure issues that arise across jurisdictions, provides valuable insights on the efficacy of existing disclosure regulation and practice, and highlights the important principles, processes, and practices that underpin best practice company disclosure frameworks. It will be welcomed by company boards and executives and their counsel, as well as by policymakers and scholars in the areas of corporate, securities, banking and financial law, accounting, economics and finance.
