Purpose – This paper inquires into the root causes of global imbalances from an international trade perspective. The purpose of the paper is to establish a conceptual framework that links financial market governance, international trade and financial market integration, and to derive...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of current progress in financial sector reform and outline some of the remaining challenges. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an analytical survey of recent developments. Findings – The reform agenda is broad,...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework for the legal classification of trading venues in financial markets. Currently, there is no clear definition of when a trading platform should be classified as multilateral or bilateral. This paper builds a theoretical...

Purpose – Aims to review the potential risks associated with the separation of banking regulation from the orbit of the central bank in Latin‐American and Caribbean countries (LAC). Design/methodology/approach – Sets out information on the banking regulators in LAC and on the current...

Purpose – The growth of the commodities markets and the increasing investment by non‐traditional market participants, such as pension and hedge funds, has come to the attention of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which has shown growing concern over the risks and challenges faced by...

Purpose – The purpose of the papers included in this issue is to cover a broad range of contemporary issues in Chinese corporate financial management and therefore provide the readers with important insights into Chinese financial markets as well as the social and economic consequences of firm...

Mexico’s 1994 peso devaluation and ensuing crisis surprised the markets and caught international markets and many policy makers off‐guard. Some of the contributing factors were due to structural deficiencies and institutional rigidities, while others dealt with public policy issues. In...

Purpose – The economic system is an expectation's feedback system, thus decisions made by economic agents are based on their expectations about the future state of the economy. These decisions affect actual realization of economic variables and this process leads to the new expectations. For a...

Purpose – To introduce the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). Design/methodology/approach – Provides a brief overview of the MiFID, how it widens the scope of business permitted under the “passport” regime, the types of financial institutions it covers, and the time frame...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive background on the recent legislative, regulatory, and prosecutorial scrutiny of mutual funds and underlying issues such as the level and transparency of fees and costs, distribution and sales practices, and fund governance....