Despite the lack of a dominant explanation for the level of risk assumed by investors in asset-backed securities in the period preceding the financial crisis, the U.S. Congress proposed and passed new disclosure prescriptions addressing various aspects of the secondary mortgage market as part of...

Over the past two decades, the European Union (EU) has become a central actor in financial regulation and developed complex institutions to fulfill its roles. Pre-financial crisis scholarship has provided key insights into the functioning of this institutional cobweb and its evolution over time....

During recent years heightened standards for board audit committee membership has been imposed by the SEC, NYSE and others. Sarbanes-Oxley requires that the Audit Committee will be comprised solely of independent directors, and that the company must disclose whether at least one of the members...

Innovation. The word is evocative of ideas, products and processes which have somehow made the world a better place. In the frothy days leading up to the global financial crisis, many viewed financial innovation as unequivocally falling into this category. Underpinning this view was a pervasive...

Several commentators have argued that financial “reform” legislation enacted after a market crash is invariably flawed, results in “quack corporate governance” and “bubble laws,” and should be discouraged. This criticism has been specifically directed at both the Sarbanes-Oxley Act...

Financial regulation today is largely framed by traditional business categories. The financial markets, however, have begun to bypass those categories, principally over the last thirty years. Chief among the changes has been convergence in the products and services offered by traditional...

The credit crisis that started in the American mortgage subprime market in 2007 is having profound social and economic consequences. In this context, lawmakers, regulators, and commentators have questioned the role of rating agencies in the market turmoil. In light of the critiques, a strong...

Despite continued attempts by regulators to curtail abusive short sales and increase transparency, the pattern and practice of fraudulent manipulation continues to proliferate and threaten the capitalization of a wide variety of issuers within the securities market. Identifying a meaningful...