International Law In Financial Regulation And Monetary Affairs

The early twenty-first century has seen a conspicuous absence of formal international law concerning money and finance. This book argues that this lack of formal international regulation was a significant contributing factor to the global financial crisis that began in 2007. It focuses on this lack of global substantive principles and 'hard law' rules in the field of financial regulation and monetary affairs, and analyses the emerging framework within international law that aims to govern financial institutions and markets. The global financial crisis has demonstrated the essential need for financial and monetary regulatory reform, and for the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for the settlement of financial disputes and for the regulation of cross-border financial institutions. This book therefore presents the foundations of solutions that could fill these critical gaps in international financial law. It addresses cross-border issues, financial regulation, and provides detailed analyses of monetary policies and regulation. This book is an updated collection of papers first published in the Special Edition of the Journal of International Economic Law on 'The Quest for International Law in Financial Regulation and Monetary Affairs' (Volume 12, Number 3, September 2010), which also show that the regulatory hands-off approach was not replicated in other areas of international economic law. International trade regulation witnessed an increased number of international rules and the reinforcement of a rule-oriented, if not rule-based, approach. Judicial dispute settlement and retaliation, exclusively based upon international ruling and authorization, was reinforced. Given the importance of trade regulation and WTO law, which has an established institutional and legal framework, the book therefore provides a much-needed comparative approach.

Addresses central monetary law and policy debates, especially the links between international investment law and trade regulation within the WTO.

The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. In Monetary Stability as a Common Concern in International Law, Lucía Satragno argues that monetary stability is a global public good that must be promoted and protected at all levels of governance. In doing so, the book accomplishes two tasks. On one hand, it provides an up to date analysis of the role of law and institutions in the international monetary field since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. On the other hand, it applies the methodological approach proposed by the novel doctrine of Common Concern of Humankind to monetary stability as a case study. Accordingly, the book examines not only the status quo of the international monetary system, but also looks at the ‘new and different realism’ that would be envisaged in monetary affairs in the case of a fully-fledged principle of Common Concern.

The 20072010 global financial crisis re-opened the debate on the reform of the international monetary and financial system. This well-argued book demonstrates the strategic role of international economic law (IEL) in ensuring international monetary stability and global financial stability. After discussing the current allocation of powers among IEL institutions, Annamaria Viterbo focuses on monetary measures: exchange restrictions, capital controls and exchange rate manipulations. These three fundamental topics are then examined through the lens of a multi-layered methodology, adopting perspectives from international monetary law, trade law and investment law. The author evaluates how the horizontal sectors in which IEL is traditionally divided interact and how conflicts between norms are avoided or solved. Particular attention is also devoted to the outcomes of trade and investment disputes that deal with monetary measures. International Economic Law and Monetary Measures will appeal to international trade law and international financial law scholars as well as law and business students. Legal practitioners and officials working in the field of international economic law will find it a useful reference, as will legal counsel in banks and financial institutions, international investors and multinational corporations.

International financial relations have become increasingly important for the development of global and national economies. At present these relations are primarily governed by market forces, with little regulatory interference at the international level. In the light of numerous financial crises, this abstinence must be seriously questioned. Starting with an analysis of the regulatory problems at the international level, with only minimal powers entrusted to international organisations, this book develops various possibilities for reform. On the basis of an historical analysis, the book first adopts a comparative approach to national attempts to regulate international financial markets, then outlines the potential of relevant institutions and finally develops a policy perspective. It seeks to provide a framework for analysing options for the regulation of international financial markets from a public international law and comparative law perspective.

Why have financial standards and institutions almost always failed to effectively predict and respond to real-world financial crises? The answer, this challenging book shows, is that international financial law suffers from a persistent lack of judicial or quasi-judicial enforcement mechanisms, leaving flaws in the structure of the international financial system that lead inevitably to excesses that threaten the public good of global financial stability. The author, an internationally renowned legal expert on financial and fiscal reforms, responds to the increasingly urgent call for rethinking the structure and the functioning of international financial law. Centering on the concept of enforcement – which continues to be an unresolved issue in the discipline of international financial law – the analysis describes the likely contours of hard-law regulatory reform. It weighs the pros and cons of much-talked-about regulatory and policy issues like the following and more: – policy implications from the transformation of finance from a domestic to an international concept; – new or revised supervisory and regulatory bodies with redefined mandate, jurisdictions and powers; – possibility of a treaty-based structure similar to the European Union’s integration framework; and – consolidation of crisis-prevention and crisis-management policies; The analysis takes into account instances from trade and monetary systems pertinent to the development of the discipline of international financial law. A concluding chapter explores possibilities for putting in place an asset-backed resilient financial system based on risk-sharing and empowered to legislate reform and authorized to seek compliance from its members. With its provision of unconventional alternatives for further development of international financial law to realize stable, predictable and robust international markets – including early-warning systems and fully primed crisis-prevention mechanisms – the book explores the essential link between global financial stability, effective regulation and institutional development that will engender realistic global policy solutions. It will prove to be of great importance to regulatory and legal practitioners as well as to academic and think-tank scholars.

This book explores the role of law and regulation in sustaining financial markets in both developed and developing countries, particularly the European Union, United States and China. The central argument of this book is that law matters for the operation of financial markets, which, in turn, significantly influences the performance of firms, industries, and economies. The Role of Law and Regulation in Sustaining Financial Markets is divided into four parts. Part one addresses the connection between law, financial development, and economic growth. Part two deals with the role of financial regulation, which can be used to correct market failures, such as negative externalities, information asymmetries, and monopolies. Part three focuses on the design, functioning, and performance of different financial instruments. Part four examines the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility. This book contributes to the ‘law and finance’ literature by studying certain conventional issues, such as the relationship between finance and economic growth, and the effects of regulatory quality on financial development, from new perspectives and/or with new evidence, data, and cases. It also explores novel topics, such as project finance contracts, insurance and climate change, the shadow banking system, that have been overlooked in current literature. This book is meaningful not only for the EU and the US, which have suffered considerably from the financial crisis of 2008, but also for China, which is struggling to build a sound institutional infrastructure to govern its increasingly complicated financial system. By comparing the regulatory philosophies and practices of the EU, the US and China, this book will help the reader to understand the diverse nature of the global ‘law and finance’ nexus and avoid succumbing to the myth of "one size fits all".

This book is a leading authority on central banking and financial regulation, including detailed legal and policy analysis of the institutions that safeguard monetary stability and financial stability nationally, at the EU level and globally. The new edition has been renamed (previously 'Legal Foundations of International Monetary Stability') to better reflect the book's breadth of coverage, which includes an in-depth study of central banking, a fresh look at supervision, regulation and crisis management after the global financial crisis. It also includes updated material on the law of the European Central Bank and banking union, the law of the IMF and work undertaken by international standard-setters, in particular the FSB and the Basel Committee. Part I focuses on national developments, Part II deals with EU developments and Part III examines international developments. Each of these sections commences with a historical chapter, then analyses the framework of the 'monetary architecture'. Finally, each part considers the 'financial architecture' with regard to the functions of financial supervision (micro and macro) and surveillance, regulation and crisis management, including lender of last resort and resolution.