The global financial crisis triggered a vast number of new laws and regulations at international level, including initiatives that can be classified as "soft law". The legitimacy and efficacy of these new norms are subject to intensive academic and political debates. At the same time, soft law...

This paper shows that banks' net foreign currency exposure is an important channel through which exchange rate shocks get transmitted to the real economy. I construct a new dataset on net foreign currency exposures of Swiss banks and exploit the large and unanticipated currency appreciation...

The implementation of the 'Lamfalussy Process' initiated a period of development, adaptation and positive feeling towards the EU's financial regulatory structure. However, some circumstances and experiences from the process' application flatten the high geared expectations created during the...

This work is primarily focused on the settlement between the SEC and Goldman Sachs of July 2010 related to the structuring and marketing of a Collateralised Debt Obligation (CDO) known as Abacus 2007-AC1. A thorough discussion of this case leads to analyze the idea of a imposing a fiduciary duty...

This work is primarily focused on the settlement between the SEC and Goldman Sachs of July 2010 related to the structuring and marketing of a Collateralised Debt Obligation (CDO) known as Abacus 2007-AC1. A thorough discussion of this case leads to analyze the idea of a imposing a fiduciary duty...

The unprecedented collapse of international interbank borrowing was a prominent feature of the global financial crisis that started in August 2007. This paper focuses on the drivers of the retrenchment from 32 advanced and emerging banking systems. Using novel risk-weighted indexes the paper...

The unprecedented collapse of international interbank borrowing was a prominent feature of the global financial crisis that started in August 2007. This paper focuses on the drivers of the retrenchment from 32 advanced and emerging banking systems. Using novel risk-weighted indexes the paper...

After introducing some fundamental concepts of relevance to Islamic finance, this article describes investment funds used to make investments in the United States, lease (ijara) investment structures used for real estate investments in different jurisdictions (including the early development of...

President Obama's proposed legislation for the separation of ‘casino' from ‘utility' banking has re-ignited the relevant debate. Behind the Obama proposals is the belief that the ‘too-big-to-fail' banks were among the principal causes of the global financial catastrophe. Although most of...