This chapter attempts to de-mystify derivatives. It starts by explaining the types of derivatives used globally, and observes that derivatives could be deconstructed by their economic functions into two straightforward categories: option contracts and guarantees. The chapter then discusses the...

The United States, other governments and multinational organizations, and the private sector are urgently exploring the possibility of employing digital currencies, especially for facilitating retail consumer payments domestically and across national borders. Stablecoins represent one of the two...

Recent innovations in financial technology, or “FinTech,” are enabling the fractionalization of investment securities, such as shares of stock and bonds. We explain how this fractionalization can fundamentally expand financial inclusion both for investors and for businesses, including small...

The downfall of Enron Corporation often epitomizes corporate fraud. One of the world’s fastest growing and most inventive companies, Enron had engaged in a range of complex structured hedging transactions designed to achieve accounting rather than operating results. Its principal motivation,...

Although it is an essential part of business law, commercial law has uncertain boundaries. That uncertainty creates significant legal ambiguities and inconsistencies, confusing lawyers and courts and causing misinterpretations that disrupt commerce and reduce efficiency. This Article...

This CIGI Paper No. 51 was released on December 3, 2014 by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) as a response to the Financial Stability Board's (FSB) Consultative Document, “Cross-Border Recognition of Resolution Action.” Principally authored by CIGI Senior Fellow...

Adjudicating business and commercial disputes often requires judges to interpret complex and intersecting specialized bodies of law. In the United States, for example, these disputes frequently involve intersecting provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) and the Bankruptcy Code....