The EU financial regulatory and supervisory scheme has recently been substantially changed. Several new directives both in securities and banking - followed soon by insurance - will overhaul regulation in the EU. At the same time work is being done in the regulatory and supervisory architecture. By using delegated rulemaking, much of the needed centralisation has been achieved. Supervisory coordination now becomes the focus of the debate: at present coordination has been based on cooperation networks, framed around the regulatory and advisory committees. How far can this approach be upheld, or should Europe be heading for a single supervisor, possibly integrating the three mentioned fields of business activity? What alternative schemes could be devised, relying on the existing home-host pattern, the development of new techniques of cooperation and enforcement or - as some think - majority decision making? Subsidiarity, proximity and efficiency reasons point toward a further deepening of the network approach that better meets the needs of the market participants.
The European Union Committee undertook this inquiry as the implications of the financial crisis became clear. Supervisors in the UK, in the EU, and globally failed to identify the impending meltdown, and failed to take preventative action. Reform of regulation and supervision of the financial system has become an important political topic. In response to the crisis the European Commission has so far published four regulatory proposals on Capital Requirements, Deposit Guarantee Schemes, Credit Rating Agencies and Alternative Investment Funds. The first two of these have been agreed and are largely sensible responses to the crisis. The proposals to regulate alternative investment funds and credit rating agencies are more controversial, highlighting the need for more thorough consultation, impact assessment and risk analysis. Further coordination of supervision of the EU financial institutions and markets is seen as necessary and financial services in the EU will benefit from strengthened macro- and micro-prudential supervision. This should provide a more effective early warning system for mitigating systemic risks and help improve the operation of the single market in financial services. The Committee supports the establishment of a new body at the EU level to assess and monitor macro-prudential systemic risks arising from financial markets and institutions. Major strengthening of the powers of any EU micro-prudential body is, though, a matter of some controversy and thorough and careful debate of the alternatives for reform within existing limitations is necessary. The Commission has applied state aid rules speedily and flexibly and has helped ensure that bail-outs of failing banks and mitigation of damage to the real economy do not jeopardise the single market.
Financial regulation has dramatically evolved and strengthened since the crisis on both sides of the Atlantic, with enhanced international coordination through the G-20 and the Financial Stability Board and, at the regional level, a definite contribution from the European Union. However the new regulatory environment has its critics, with many divergent voices arguing that over-regulation has become a root cause of our current economic stagnation. This book provides a bigger picture view of the impact and future of financial regulation in the EU, exploring the relationship between microeconomic incentives and macroeconomic growth, regulation and financial integration, and the changes required in economic policy to further European integration. Bringing together contributions from law, economics and management science, it offers readers an accessible but rigorous understanding of the current state of play of the regulatory environment, and on the future challenges. Coverage will include: • A review of the recent regulatory changes from a legal and economic perspective • Analysis of how the economic model of financial institutions and entities is impacted by the new frameworks • How to improve securitization and new instruments under MIFID II • Issues in the enhanced supervision under delegated acts for AIFMD, CRR-CRD IV and Solvency II • How long term funding can be supplied in lieu of the non-conventional monetary policies • A new architecture for a safer and more efficient European financial system Financial Regulation in the EU provides much needed clarity on the impact of new financial regulation and the future of the economy, and will prove a must have reference for all those working in, researching and affected by these changes.
Financial regulation has entered into a new era, as many foundational economic theories and policies supporting the existing infrastructure have been and are being questioned following the financial crisis. Goodhart et al’s seminal monograph "Financial Regulation: Why, How and Where Now?" (Routledge:1998) took stock of the extent of financial innovation and the maturity of the financial services industry at that time, and mapped out a new regulatory roadmap. This book offers a timely exploration of the "Why, How and Where Now" of financial regulation in the aftermath of the crisis in order to map out the future trajectory of financial regulation in an age where financial stability is being emphasised as a key regulatory objective. The book is split into four sections: the objectives and regulatory landscape of financial regulation; the regulatory regime for investor protection; the regulatory regime for financial institutional safety and soundness; and macro-prudential regulation. The discussion ranges from theoretical and policy perspectives to comprehensive and critical consideration of financial regulation in the specifics. The focus of the book is on the substantive regulation of the UK and the EU, as critical examination is made of the unravelling and the future of financial regulation with comparative insights offered where relevant especially from the US. Running throughout the book is consideration of the relationship between financial regulation, financial stability and the responsibility of various actors in governance. This book offers an important contribution to continuing reflections on the role of financial regulation, market discipline and corporate responsibility in the financial sector, and upon the roles of regulatory authorities, markets and firms in ensuring the financial health and security of all in the future.
This book brings outstanding expertise and provides insightful perspectives from nineteen authors with diverse backgrounds, including officials from international organizations, national regulators, and commercial banking, as well as academics in law, economics, political economy, and finance. The authors not only shed light on the causes of the financial turmoil, but also present thoughtful proposals that contribute to the future policy debate, and discuss opportunities that financial services can offer in funding activities which raise standards of living through initiatives in microfinance, renewable energy, and food distribution. The contributions to this volume tackle several of the thorniest issues of financial regulation in a post-crisis environment, such as: the mechanics of contagion within the financial system and the role of liquidity; moral hazard when large financial institutions are no longer subject to the disciplinary effects of bankruptcy; bank capital requirements; management compensation; design of bank resolution schemes; a function-centric versus institution-centric regulatory approach; subsidization and compatibility of stimulus packages with EU rules on state aid; trade finance and the role of the GATS prudential carve-out; and the role of financial services in promoting human rights or combating climate change.
The Future of Financial Regulation is an edited collection of papers presented at a major conference at the University of Glasgow in spring 2009, co-sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council World Economy and Finance Programme and the the Australian Research Council Governance Research Network. It draws together a variety of different perspectives on the international financial crisis which began in August 2007 and later turned into a more widespread economic crisis following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the autumn of 2008. Spring 2009 was in many respects the nadir since valuations in financial markets had reached their low point and crisis management rather than regulatory reform was the main focus of attention. The conference and book were deliberately framed as an attempt to re-focus attention from the former to the latter. The first part of the book focuses on the context of the crisis, discussing the general characteristics of financial crises and the specific influences that were at work this time round. The second part focuses more specifically on regulatory techniques and practices implicated in the crisis, noting in particular an over-reliance on the capacity of regulators and financial institutions to manage risk and on the capacity of markets to self-correct. The third part focuses on the role of governance and ethics in the crisis and in particular the need for a common ethical framework to underpin governance practices and to provide greater clarity in the design of accountability mechanisms. The final part focuses on the trajectory of regulatory reform, noting the considerable potential for change as a result of the role of the state in the rescue and recuperation of the financial system and stressing the need for fundamental re-appraisal of business and regulatory models.
ÔThis Handbook is a must read for policy makers and practitioners alike as well as excellent reading for advanced academic courses in international banking.Õ Ð Allard Bruinshoofd, SUERF ÔThis collection of papers is essential reading for anyone interested in central banking, regulation and supervision. Sylvester Eijffinger and Donato Masciandaro have brought together contributions from the leading academics, central bankers and regulators, providing the most up-to-date analysis of this critical subject.Õ Ð Paul Mizen, University of Nottingham, UK This stimulating and original Handbook offers an updated and systematic discussion of the relationship between central banks, financial regulation and supervision after the global financial crisis. The crisis has raised new questions about the compatibility of monetary and financial stability, which are changing the face of central banking and its relationships with the architecture of financial regulation and supervision. The Handbook explores on both the economics and political economy of the topic, in order to understand how and why reforms of the role of the central banks can be designed and implemented. The general suggestion is that future effectiveness of the central banking architecture will depend on its ability to ensure the consistency between the monetary actions in normal and extraordinary times. Consequently the possible paths in the central bank strategies and tactics, as well as in the classic concepts of independence, accountability and transparency, are analyzed and discussed. With chapters written by outstanding scholars in economics, this lucid Handbook will appeal to academics, policymakers and practitioners, ranging from central bankers and supervisory authorities to financial operators. Among the academics it would be of particular interest to financial and monetary economists (including postgraduate students), but the institutional slant and the central theme of relations between economics, institutional settings and politics will also be invaluable for political scientists.
This collection offers a comparative overview of how financial regulations have evolved in various European countries since the introduction of the single European market in 1986. It includes a number of country studies which provides a narrative of the domestic financial regulatory structure at the beginning of the period, as well the means by which the EU Directives have been introduced into domestic legislation and the impact on the financial structure of the economy. In particular, studies highlight how the discretion allowed by the Directives has been used to meet the then existing domestic conditions and financial structure as well as how they have modified that structure. Countries covered are France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. The book also contains an overview of regulatory changes in the UK and Nordic countries, and in post-crisis USA. This comparative approach raises questions about whether past and more recent regulatory changes have in fact contributed to increase financial stability in the EU. The comparative analysis provided in this book raises questions on whether the past and more recent changes are contributing to increase the financial stability and efficiency of individual banks and national financial systems. The crisis has demonstrated the drawbacks of formulating the regulatory framework on standards borrowed from the best industry practices from the large developed countries, originally designed exclusively for large global banks, but now applied to all financial institutions.
Scientific Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: Distinction, University of Edinburgh (School of Law), course: Regulatory governance in the European Union, language: English, abstract: The aim of this paper is threefold: first to establish how the regulatory and supervisory architecture has evolved in Europe over the last decade; second to determine how the shortcomings of the present system affected the onslaught of the financial crisis in Europe; and lastly to evaluate whether the proposed regulatory and supervisory reforms are likely to successfully repair these weaknesses. Part I identifies that the single market objective, combined with the significant integration of European financial services, provided the major impetus for bringing about reform to the regulatory and supervisory architecture of Europe. By investigating the Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP) and the implementation of the Lamfalussy Process, this paper illustrates that the member states and the EU institutions sought to achieve a flexible regulatory and supervisory structure marked by cooperation and conversion towards common standards. However, despite the commendable progress made, Part II shows that the regulatory and supervisory system has not kept pace with the financial integration, and that the current crisis revealed substantial inadequacies of the present system. This paper will demonstrate that the weaknesses in the European financial regulatory and supervisory architecture acted both as contributing causes of the crisis, and as exacerbating factors. In particular the essay identifies three such shortcomings that aggravated the crisis, namely that the current system caused a breakdown in member state cooperation and coordination, that it is marked by inconsistency, and that it lacks a sufficiently developed EU-dimension. Lastly, Part III investigates the proposed regulatory and supervisory reforms that the de Larosière Report brought forth. The Report makes recommendations for extensive reform and it is submitted that not only are these reforms likely to cure many of the current cooperation and convergence problems, but they would also equip Europe with a partially centralised supervisory structure that would help prevent future crises of similar cataclysmic proportions.
