As a consequence of recent regulatory initiatives against ‘banking secrecy', international financial activities in offshore financial centres (OFC), which comprise mostly small island tax-havens, may have diminished appeal to financial institutions and investors in advanced economies. In this...

A book chapter providing an overview of select aspects of legal and regulatory issues affecting Islamic capital markets. The categories of issues discussed are (ad) securities laws and regulatory regimes, (b) securitization laws, including laws and regulations applicable to sukuk, and legal...

In a model of financial networks that admits both debt and equity interdependencies, we show that financial organizations have incentives to choose excessively risky portfolios, and overly correlate their portfolios with those of their counterparties. We show how optimal regulation depends on...

The changes in Romanian trade policies due to the EU accession will influence trade flows. The impact on trade of the enlargement of the EU customs union will depend not only on the change in tariffs, but also on structural adjustments in Romanian economy. The object of this study is to analyze...

The goal of this report is to propose comprehensive solutions for the regulation of the water and energy complex of Central Asia. The report presents an assessment of the state of water resources in Central Asia in the context of climate change. It offers a detailed analysis of the evolution of...

This article offers a critique of the deregulation of banking and finance that started with the breakdown of the Bretton Woods regime of fixed exchange rates during the Nixon administration, accelerated with interest rate deregulation during the Carter administration, and was deepened during the...

Several countries have recently introduced national capital standards exceeding the internationally coordinated Basel III rules, which is inconsistent with the 'race to the bottom' in capital standards found in the literature. We study regulatory competition when banks are heterogeneous and give...

Several countries have recently introduced national capital standards exceeding the internationally coordinated Basel III rules, thus suggesting a 'race to the top' in capital standards. We study regulatory competition when banks are heterogeneous and give loans to firms that produce output in...

This paper studies regulatory competition in the banking sector in a model where banks are heterogeneous and taxpayers come up for the losses of failing banks. Capital requirements force the weakest banks to exit the market. This gives rise to a signalling effect of capital standards, as...