Who Regulates Whom?


Book Description

Federal financial regulation in the U.S. has evolved through a series of piecemeal responses to developments and crises in financial markets. This report provides an overview of current U.S. financial regulation: which agencies are responsible for which institutions and markets, and what kinds of authority they have. Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Financial Crises, Regulatory Jurisdiction, and Systemic Risk; (3) Capital Requirements: Non-Bank Capital Requirements; (4) The Federal Financial Regulators: Banking Regulators; Non-Bank Financial Regulators; Regulatory Umbrella Groups; (5) Unregulated Markets and Institutions: Foreign Exchange Markets; U.S. Treasury Securities; OTC Derivatives; Private Securities Markets; Nonbank Lenders; Hedge Funds.




The Federal Reserve System Purposes and Functions


Book Description

Provides an in-depth overview of the Federal Reserve System, including information about monetary policy and the economy, the Federal Reserve in the international sphere, supervision and regulation, consumer and community affairs and services offered by Reserve Banks. Contains several appendixes, including a brief explanation of Federal Reserve regulations, a glossary of terms, and a list of additional publications.




Model Rules of Professional Conduct


Book Description

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.




Ensuring Safe Food


Book Description

How safe is our food supply? Each year the media report what appears to be growing concern related to illness caused by the food consumed by Americans. These food borne illnesses are caused by pathogenic microorganisms, pesticide residues, and food additives. Recent actions taken at the federal, state, and local levels in response to the increase in reported incidences of food borne illnesses point to the need to evaluate the food safety system in the United States. This book assesses the effectiveness of the current food safety system and provides recommendations on changes needed to ensure an effective science-based food safety system. Ensuring Safe Food discusses such important issues as: What are the primary hazards associated with the food supply? What gaps exist in the current system for ensuring a safe food supply? What effects do trends in food consumption have on food safety? What is the impact of food preparation and handling practices in the home, in food services, or in production operations on the risk of food borne illnesses? What organizational changes in responsibility or oversight could be made to increase the effectiveness of the food safety system in the United States? Current concerns associated with microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards in the food supply are discussed. The book also considers how changes in technology and food processing might introduce new risks. Recommendations are made on steps for developing a coordinated, unified system for food safety. The book also highlights areas that need additional study. Ensuring Safe Food will be important for policymakers, food trade professionals, food producers, food processors, food researchers, public health professionals, and consumers.




Financial Regulation


Book Description

Financial Regulation: Law and Policy (2d Edition) introduces the field of financial regulation in a new and accessible way. Even though a decade has passed since the most systemic financial crisis in the last 70 years and eight years have elapsed since a major shift in regulatory design, the world is still grappling with the aftermath. In addition, technology innovations, including Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, market forces and a changing political environment all have combined to reframe and reorient public debate over financial regulation. The book has kept up to date with all of these changes. The book analyzes and compares the market and regulatory architecture of the entire U.S. financial sector as it exists today, from banks, insurance companies, and broker-dealers, to asset managers, complex financial conglomerates, and government-sponsored enterprises. The book explores a range of financial activities, from consumer finance and investment to payment systems, securitization, short-term wholesale funding, money markets, and derivatives. The book examines a range of regulatory techniques, including supervision, enforcement, and rule-writing, as well as crisis-fighting tools such as resolution and the lender of last resort. Throughout the book, the authors note the cross-border implications of U.S. rules, and compare, where appropriate, the U.S. financial regulatory framework and policy choices to those in other places around the globe, especially the European Union.







Finance & Development, March 2012


Book Description

Young people, hardest hit by the global economic downturn, are speaking out and demanding change. F&D looks at the need to urgently address the challenges facing youth and create opportunities for them. Harvard professor David Bloom lays out the scope of the problem and emphasizes the importance of listening to young people in "Youth in the Balance." "Making the Grade" looks at how to teach today's young people what they need to get jobs. IMF Deputy Managing Director, Nemat Shafik shares her take on the social and economic consequences of youth unemployment in our "Straight Talk" column. "Scarred Generation" looks at the effects the global economic crisis had on young workers in advanced economies, and we hear directly from young people across the globe in "Voices of Youth." Renminbi's rise, financial system regulation, and boosting GDP by empowering women. Also in the magazine, we examine the rise of the Chinese currency, look at the role of the credit rating agencies, discuss how to boost the empowerment of women, and present our primer on macroprudential regulation, seen as increasingly important to financial stability. People in economics - C. Fred Bergsten, American Globalist. Back to basics - The multi-dimensional role of banks in our financial systems.




The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report


Book Description

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.




Financial Regulation and Compliance


Book Description

Devise an organized, proactive approach to financial compliance Financial Regulation and Compliance provides detailed, step-by-step guidance for the compliance professional seeking to manage overlapping and new regulatory responsibilities. Written by David Kotz, former Inspector General of the SEC with additional guidance provided by leading experts, this book is a one-stop resource for navigating the numerous regulations that have been enacted in response to the financial crisis. You'll learn how best to defend your organization from SEC, CFTC, FINRA, and NFA Enforcement actions, how to prepare for SEC, FINRA, and NFA regulatory examinations, how to manage the increasing volume of whistleblower complaints, how to efficiently and effectively investigate these complaints, and more. Detailed discussion of the regulatory process explains how aggressive you should be in confronting federal agencies and self-regulatory organizations and describes how commenting on issues that affect your business area can be productive or not. The companion website includes a glossary of terms, regulations and government guidance, relevant case law, research databases, and FAQs about various topics, giving you a complete solution for keeping abreast of evolving compliance issues. These days, compliance professionals are faced with a myriad of often overlapping regulatory challenges. Increased aggressiveness on the part of regulators has led to increased demand on financial firms, but this book provides clear insight into navigating the changes and building a more robust compliance function. Strengthen internal compliance and governance programs Manage whistleblower programs and conduct effective investigations Understand how to minimize exposure and liability from Enforcement actions Learn how to prepare for the different types of regulatory examinations Minimize exposure from FCPA violations Understand the pros and cons of commenting on regulations The volume and pace of regulatory change is causing new and diverse pressures on compliance professionals. Navigate the choppy waters successfully with the insider guidance in Financial Regulation and Compliance.




Regulating Digital Industries


Book Description

Regulating Digital Industries is the first book to address the tech backlash within a coherent policy framework. It treats competition, privacy and free speech as objectives that must be pursued in a coordinated fashion by a dedicated industry regulator. It contains detailed discussions of current policy controversies involving social media companies, search engines, electronic commerce platforms and mobile apps. It argues for new laws and regulations to promote competition, privacy and free speech in tech and outlines the structure and powers of a regulatory agency able to develop, implement and enforce digital rules for the twenty-first century. Deeply informed by the history of regulation and antitrust in the United States, it brings to bear insights from the breakup of AT&T and the Microsoft case and from broadcasting and financial services regulation to enrich the discussion of remedies to the failure of tech competition, the massive invasion of privacy by digital firms and the information disorder perpetuated by social media platforms. It offers a comprehensive summary of regulatory reform efforts in the United States and abroad and shows how accomplishing the goals of these reform efforts requires the establishment of a single digital agency with jurisdiction to reconcile and balance the complementary and conflicting goals of promoting competition, protecting privacy, and preserving free speech in digital industries. It discusses in detail how a digital regulatory agency would be structured and the powers it would need to have. It confronts head on some of the challenges in establishing a strong digital regulator including the First Amendment roadblock that limits government authority over digital speech and the judicial opposition to the expansion of the administrative state. It is essential reading for policymakers, public interest advocates, industry representatives, academic researchers and the general public interested in a coherent policy approach to today’s tech industry discontents.