This Article attempts to define hedge funds and to distinguish them from a variety of similar investment funds. After reviewing the hedge fund definition in the U.S. and the EU, this Article argues that the current regulatory framework, which defines hedge funds by reference to what they are not...

From the dawn of civilization, the ever-growing sophistication of human society, division of labour, specialization, and comparative advantage rendered trade an indispensable part of any human enterprise. The need for trade begets the need for finance, and as trade becomes globally...

This paper argues that blockchains or, more broadly, distributed ledgers provide the first viable avenue toward a common economic and financial ledger where, in an envisioned end-state, all economic actors record all their economic assets/liabilities and economic transactions in one virtual...

Risk transfers represent a preferred method for removing pension liabilities from corporate balance sheet. We examine the role of institutional shareholders on firm’s decision to offload pension liabilities to professional risk managers. We find that the likelihood of pension risk transfers is...

This paper attempts to compare policies and practices on the disclosure of external auditing results of deposit taking institutions in Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Korea and Malaysia

This essay, based on the author's presentation last September to the annual meeting of the North American Securities Administration Association (NASAA), addresses several issues related to Rule 506, the most widely-used of the SEC's transactional exemptions from federal registration of...

A crucial and outstanding issue for the European economy and democracy.In March 2009, the European Commission recognized the need to put "the interests of European investors, consumers and SMEs at the centre of the financial markets reform”. The Commission therefore announced it will "ensure...

It is well known fact that all good things, as also bad things, come to an end and business cycles pass through good and bad economic times. Economically 2010 was a year of transition from economic recession to recovery. Economies were improving in some countries and industries were showing...