Broad US financial deregulation is unlikely

Subject Outlook for US financial regulation. Significance Richard Cordray will step down as the head of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the end of the month. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a harsh critic of the consumer watchdog, is the front-runner to replace him, possibly as acting head as that would avoid the need for Senate confirmation. President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders are keen to remove what they see as burdensome post-2008 regulation of financial services, but legislative change is proving difficult, so Trump is using appointments and executive powers to advance a deregulatory agenda. Impacts Global monetary policy divergence is both a bigger threat and opportunity for financial markets than US banking reform. The divergence in US regulatory direction from that of international regulators may cause even minor US reforms to have outsized effects. Some US banks will see higher profitability, albeit in line with higher riskiness, but the overall impact on banking activity will be minor. More repatriation of US banking activity will impact London’s financial markets, and the outflow could be exacerbated by Brexit uncertainty.

Author(s):  
Liudmila F. Lebedeva

Transcontinental partnerships – Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TATIP) – have been analyzed in view of the new challenges in polycentric world, US foreign economic policy changes, risks for the national economies of the block’s participants, as well as for the other countries. The TPP and the TATIP are in focus as the new stage of the world integration process. The TATIP can deepen the already substantial economic ties between the US and the European Union. But what will be included in the chapters of the agreement on financial services, agricultural products, some other sectors is still subject to debate. Particular concerns arise about the role for the TATIP in harmonizing financial regulation. The practical implementation of president Donald Trump plans to «promote American industry, protect American workers» began with the US withdrawal from the TPP, with negotiating new bilateral trade deals in mind. Since that decision, the leaders of Japan, Singapore, Australia, and other TPP participants emphasized the strategic importance of this agreement for their countries and for US leadership in the region. Withdrawing from the TPP raises concerns among US trade partners and allies in the region and put many questions before them. Besides, US withdrawal from the TPP effectively gives green light to assert a more pronounced leadership role in the region for China, which is already a major trade and investment partner for TPP countries. Furthermore, Donald Trump turned attention to certain imports as a threat to national security and thus potentially subject to steep tariffs. The US steps in this way may undermine the rules-based trading system, and put many questions before TPP partners and other countries. Whether import restrictions for national security reasons be implemented, they may damage not only China as the main U.S. imports driver; but other countries as well, and lead to new barriers against US exports by trading partners. The Trump administration initiatives not only represents a challenge for countries that linked closely to the American economy due to the trade-economic agreements, but leads to new opportunities and choices in international economic relations.


Subject President Donald Trump and banking reform. Significance President Donald Trump attacked Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton ahead of the November 2016 election over her paid speaking appearances at Wall Street financial institutions before her second presidential run. Although he has appointed several former bankers to administration positions and advanced a deregulatory agenda as president, as a candidate Trump criticised big banks and proposed restoring the Glass-Steagall rule separating commercial and investment banking in the 1933 US Banking Act, enacted during the Great Depression but repealed in 1999. The idea has gained some traction in Congress and Trump called for a “21st century version” of Glass-Steagall in a May 1 interview. Impacts When the Fed normalises interest rates, it will help US banks’ profitability when combined with less-stringent compliance requirements. Stricter stances on financial regulation are likely to be an ideological litmus test for Democratic candidates seeking nomination. Finance-friendly appointments to and legislative restrictions on federal agencies will curtail Washington’s regulatory power.


Significance The proposals identified areas where the euro could potentially become more dominant, such as the issuance of green bonds, digital currencies, and international trade in raw materials and energy. Ambitions to enhance the international leverage of the euro are being driven by the aim to strengthen EU strategic autonomy amid rising geopolitical risks. Impacts Developing its digital finance sector would be an opportunity for the EU to enhance its strategic autonomy in financial services. Challenging the US dollar would require the euro-area to rebalance its economy away from foreign to domestic demand. Member state division will prevent the economic reconfiguration the euro-area needed to make the euro a truly global currency.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-38
Author(s):  
Samuel Lieberman ◽  
John T. Araneo

Purpose To discuss the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC’s”) increasing focus on disclosure and conflict-of-interest problems arising from how private equity fund (“PE Fund”) managers allocate expenses between management and fund investors. Design/methodology/approach This article summarizes the background of this focus on expense allocations and, drawing from the recent SEC enforcement actions focused on this issue, and identifies the types of both expenses and disclosures that have caught SEC attention. Findings After spending the first two or three years post Dodd-Frank raising awareness of these issues, the SEC has begun to impose large fines over expense-allocation conflicts and disclosure issues. Practical implications It is imperative for PE Fund managers to retain counsel to review their fund offering documents, expense allocation practices, and compliance programs to ensure consistency with the SEC’s recent decisions on these issues. Originality/value Practical guidance from experienced financial services lawyers.


A wave of liberalization swept the end of the twentieth century. From the 1970s and 1980s onwards, most developed countries have passed various measures to liberalize and ‘modernize’ the financial markets. Each country had its agenda, but most of them have experienced, to a different extent, a change in regulatory regime. This change, often labelled deregulation and associated with the advent of neoliberalism, was sharply contrasting with the previous era, the Bretton Woods system, which has sometimes been portrayed as an era of ‘financial repression’. On the other hand, a quick glance at financial regulation today, at the amount of paper it produces, at its complexity, at the number of people involved, and at the resources invested in it, is enough to say that, somehow, there is more regulation today than ever before. In the new system, financial regulation has taken unprecedented importance. As more archival material is becoming available, a better understanding of the fundamental changes in the regulatory environment towards the end of the twentieth century is now possible. What kind of change exactly was deregulation? Did competition between financial regulators lead to a ‘race to the bottom’ in regulation? Is deregulation responsible for the recurring financial crises which seem to have characterized the international financial system since the 1980s? The movement towards a more liberal regulatory regime was neither linear nor simple. This book—a collection of chapters studying deregulation in various countries and contexts—examines the national and international pathways of deregulation by providing an in-depth analysis of a short but crucial period in a few major countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohan Clarke

Purpose This paper aims to illuminate the diverging approaches to marijuana-related drug enforcement at the federal and state levels in the USA, which have facilitated a boom in the US medical cannabis industry (i.e. the “Green Rush”). It further sheds light on how the USA’ aggressive extraterritorial approach to anti-money laundering (AML) enforcement might simultaneously suppress the banking of cannabis-related businesses in Jamaica due to the lingering fear of de-risking. Design/methodology/approach An international and comparative legal and policy analysis was conducted of the nexus among shifting drug enforcement policies, AML laws and the banking of cannabis-related businesses. Findings This study found that the constitutional relationship between the US federal government and states has created a de facto comparative advantage for the US medical cannabis-related businesses that benefit from limited access to financial services. This was found to pose far-reaching implications for the banking and development of the Jamaican cannabis sector due to the dependence of the country’s financial institutions on correspondent banking relationships with the US banks that are regulated by federal AML statutes. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to examine the extraterritorial regulatory risks to the banking of cannabis-related businesses in Jamaica.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Huang ◽  
Wenfeng Wu ◽  
Tong Yu

Purpose This is a literature survey paper. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the latest developments in textual analysis on China’s financial markets, highlighting its differences from existing works in the US markets. Design/methodology/approach The authors review the literature and carry out an experiment of sentiment analysis based on a small sample of Chinese news articles. Findings Based on the experiment of sentiment analysis, there is limited evidence on the association between sentiment and other contemporaneous or future returns. Originality/value The supply of financial textual information has grown exponentially in the past decades. Technological advancements in recent years make the programming-based analysis an effective tool to digest such information. The authors highlight the use of credible textual information and discuss directions of research in this important field.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-60
Author(s):  
Joan McKown ◽  
Henry Klehm III ◽  
Harold Gordon ◽  
David Woodcock ◽  
Daniel Bradley

Purpose To explain and evaluate amendments to the rules of practice governing the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Administrative Proceedings that were adopted by the Commission on July 13, 2016. Design/methodology/approach Describes SEC’s increased pursuit of enforcement actions in APs, criticisms of the AP process, and corrective legislation. Describes the July 2016 amendments covering expansion of the prehearing period, allowance of depositions, timing for completion of document production in discovery phase, required disclosure of affirmative defenses, permitted dispositive motions, and admissibility of hearsay evidence. Assesses the practical impact of the amendments. Makes recommendations concerning advanced preparation for APs, depositions and witness-interview strategies, particular care concerning statements in Wells submission, availability of investigative record to defense counsel, admissibility of hearsay evidence, and defenses based on reliance on counsel. Findings The amended rules are a step in the right direction but do not fully correct the numerous and severe imbalances that exist in the Commission’s administrative enforcement process with respect to the availability of various discovery mechanisms, the timeline for trying a case, and more. Practical implications Every entity or individual that is involved in an SEC enforcement investigation, or that may become a respondent in an SEC Administrative Proceeding, should take certain practical steps such as those recommended in this article to minimize the structural disadvantages it will face and to maximize the benefits conferred by these latest amendments to the rules of practice. Originality/value Practical background and guidance from experienced enforcement, litigation, securities and financial services lawyers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-47
Author(s):  
Robert P. Bramnik ◽  
Mauro M. Wolfe

Purpose – To draw attention to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) disciplinary focus on the investment adviser community Design/methodology/approach – Describes six recent enforcement cases for disclosure, custody, supervisory, procedural, and other rule violations and compliance failures; explains changes in registered investment adviser (RIA) exemptions following enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act; discusses recent SEC announcements concerning inspections and examinations of RIAs. Findings – The SEC's recent announcements and enforcement actions signal that all advisers (both registered investment advisers and exempt reporting advisers) may want to pay particular attention to their compliance programs and supervisory procedures. Originality/value – Practical advice from experienced financial services lawyers.


2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-335
Author(s):  
Harald A. Benink ◽  
Reinhard H. Schmidt

AbstractThe turbulence in the international financial markets in the 1980s inspired the idea that independent academics might be in a position to make a contribution to the improvement of regulation and thus ultimately also to the stability of the national financial sector in the United States. This led to the creation of the US “Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee“, a group of academics and other independent experts working in the field of financial regulation, which meets regularly and issues statements concerning conceptual as well as current issues in financial regulation. Two years ago, a similar shadow committee was founded in Europe. It is composed of members from 11 different countries. The special problems of financial regulation in Europe, as well as the special features of the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (ESFRC), derive from the fact that despite the trend towards economic and political integration, Europe is still a collection of different nations with different institutional set-ups and political and economic traditions. In this paper, Harald Benink, chairman of the ESFRC, and Reinhard H. Schmidt, one of the two German members, describe the origin, the objectives and the functioning of the committee and the thrust of its recommendations.


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