The quite recent (2007-2009) global financial crisis (GFC), which was caused by a mix of business, regulatory, supervisory, and macroeconomic (in terms of sub-optimal fiscal and/or monetary policies) failures, had a negative impact both on the financial system – with the failure, through the...

This study explores the effect of regulatory governance on financial stability using cross-sectional data from 55 countries. The findings show that regulatory governance and various subcomponents of regulatory governance are positively correlated with financial stability in the selected...

Financial institutions heterogeneity, a high degree of dissimilarity across multiple dimensions, including business focuses, correlated asset holdings, capital structures, and funding sources, reduces systemic risk. We empirically test this hypothesis using a bank holding company (BHC) level...

This article focuses on three recent proposed reforms to the international financial system: Basel III capital requirements, the enhanced use of supervisory colleges, and proposed bank resolution regimes. In addition to analyzing recent reform proposals, the article describes historical...

This article explains the roots of financial crises in one of the oldest and most fundamental problems of commercial law: hidden leverage. Common law courts wrestled with this problem for centuries and developed a time – tested solution: the doctrine of secret liens. If the debtor becomes...

The global financial crisis has caused many to review the current effectiveness of prevailing corporate governance ideas in many developed countries, such as in the UK, the USA and in the EU more generally. We have seen a move away from a primary focus upon self regulation to a greater resort to...

This response to the 2009 UK White Paper on ‘Reforming Financial Markets' argues for stronger democratic oversight of regulators and for regulatory diversity in order to reduce ‘market herding' and the consequent systemic risks. In the context of hitherto weak democratic accountability and...